C - Multiply char by int

Question

Before I ask my question let me just say that I am a newbie to C, and do not know how to do a lot in it.

Anyway, the problem is that I need to print a specific number of characters. I first used Python, because that was a language that I was familiar with, and wrote this very simple program.

x = 5    
print('#' * x)

This is what I want to achieve, but in C. Sorry if this is a duplicate or a stupid question, but I have been puzzled and without answers, even after looking on the internet.

Solution 1

for ( size_t ii = 0; ii < 5; ++ii )
    putchar('#');

Solution 2

Use a loop to print it multiple times.

In C, a symbol between '' has a type char, a character, not a string. char is a numeric type, same as int but shorter. It holds a numerical representation of the symbol (ASCII code). Multiplying it with an integer gives you an integer.

A string, contained between "" is an array of characters. The variable will store a pointer to the first character.

Comments

[Grzegorz Szpetkowski]

In C character constants are of type int. You probably confusing with C++.

[ftynse]

Well, I may have oversimplified. But an explanation of what is an implementation-defined behavior and how it is supposed to work for 'ab' or for multibyte characters does not belong to this question. For curious, stackoverflow.com/questions/20764538/type-of-character-const‌​ant

[Tim Čas]

@ftynse: Type of character constants is not implementation-defined. It is always int (C99, 6.4.4.4p10); for wide constants, it is wchar_t (p11).

[chux - Reinstate Monica]

@ftynse The sizeof('a') == sizeof(int) - this is not a implementation-defined behavior issue. "An integer character constant has type int."

[Arkku]

Using printf to in a loop to print individual characters is overkill; here putchar would suffice.

[Admin]

Even though I chose another answer to my question, I did like your explanation. Thank you!

[Admin]

Never knew of the putchar function before now, Thanks!