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Correct char documentation re: size and signedness #527

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Feb 19, 2019
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Correct char documentation re: size and signedness #527

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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions Language/Variables/Data Types/char.adoc
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Expand Up @@ -17,11 +17,11 @@ subCategories: [ "Data Types" ]

[float]
=== Description
A data type that takes up 1 byte of memory that stores a character value. Character literals are written in single quotes, like this: 'A' (for multiple characters - strings - use double quotes: "ABC").
A data type used to store a character value. Character literals are written in single quotes, like this: 'A' (for multiple characters - strings - use double quotes: "ABC").

Characters are stored as numbers however. You can see the specific encoding in the link:https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/ASCIIchart[ASCII chart]. This means that it is possible to do arithmetic on characters, in which the ASCII value of the character is used (e.g. 'A' + 1 has the value 66, since the ASCII value of the capital letter A is 65). See link:../../../functions/communication/serial/println[`Serial.println`] reference for more on how characters are translated to numbers.

The char datatype is a signed type, meaning that it encodes numbers from -128 to 127. For an unsigned, one-byte (8 bit) data type, use the _byte_ data type.
The size of the `char` datatype is at least 8 bits. It's recommended to only use `char` for storing characters. For an unsigned, one-byte (8 bit) data type, use the link:../byte[byte] data type.
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