simple-type-specifier := char

The char type represents a character, sometimes called a narrow character. The char type is distinct from signed char and unsigned char, but its representation must match one or the other. (Which one depends on the implementation.) A char can be promoted to an integer; the value depends on whether the representation is signed or unsigned.

By definition, sizeof(char) is 1, so a char is often used as the basic unit of memory allocation. Raw memory is often allocated as arrays of char or unsigned char.

See Also

type, wchar_t, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, <cstring>, <memory>