6.16 Fixed-Point Types

As an extension, GNU C supports fixed-point types as defined in the N1169 draft of ISO/IEC DTR 18037. Support for fixed-point types in GCC will evolve as the draft technical report changes. Calling conventions for any target might also change. Not all targets support fixed-point types.

The fixed-point types are short _Fract, _Fract, long _Fract, long long _Fract, unsigned short _Fract, unsigned _Fract, unsigned long _Fract, unsigned long long _Fract, _Sat short _Fract, _Sat _Fract, _Sat long _Fract, _Sat long long _Fract, _Sat unsigned short _Fract, _Sat unsigned _Fract, _Sat unsigned long _Fract, _Sat unsigned long long _Fract, short _Accum, _Accum, long _Accum, long long _Accum, unsigned short _Accum, unsigned _Accum, unsigned long _Accum, unsigned long long _Accum, _Sat short _Accum, _Sat _Accum, _Sat long _Accum, _Sat long long _Accum, _Sat unsigned short _Accum, _Sat unsigned _Accum, _Sat unsigned long _Accum, _Sat unsigned long long _Accum.

Fixed-point data values contain fractional and optional integral parts. The format of fixed-point data varies and depends on the target machine.

Support for fixed-point types includes:

• prefix and postfix increment and decrement operators (++, --)
• unary arithmetic operators (+, -, !)
• binary arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /)
• binary shift operators (<<, >>)
• relational operators (<, <=, >=, >)
• equality operators (==, !=)
• assignment operators (+=, -=, *=, /=, <<=, >>=)
• conversions to and from integer, floating-point, or fixed-point types

Use a suffix in a fixed-point literal constant:

• hr or HR for short _Fract and _Sat short _Fract
• r or R for _Fract and _Sat _Fract
• lr or LR for long _Fract and _Sat long _Fract
• llr or LLR for long long _Fract and _Sat long long _Fract
• uhr or UHR for unsigned short _Fract and _Sat unsigned short _Fract
• ur or UR for unsigned _Fract and _Sat unsigned _Fract
• ulr or ULR for unsigned long _Fract and _Sat unsigned long _Fract
• ullr or ULLR for unsigned long long _Fract and _Sat unsigned long long _Fract
• hk or HK for short _Accum and _Sat short _Accum
• k or K for _Accum and _Sat _Accum
• lk or LK for long _Accum and _Sat long _Accum
• llk or LLK for long long _Accum and _Sat long long _Accum
• uhk or UHK for unsigned short _Accum and _Sat unsigned short _Accum
• uk or UK for unsigned _Accum and _Sat unsigned _Accum
• ulk or ULK for unsigned long _Accum and _Sat unsigned long _Accum
• ullk or ULLK for unsigned long long _Accum and _Sat unsigned long long _Accum

GCC support of fixed-point types as specified by the draft technical report is incomplete:

• Pragmas to control overflow and rounding behaviors are not implemented.

Fixed-point types are supported by the DWARF debug information format.