Format String Macros

The <inttypes.h> file also includes the macros that specify the printf(3S) and scanf(3S) format specifiers. Essentially, these macros prepend the format specifier with an l or ll to identify the argument as a long or long long, given that the number of bits in the argument is built into the name of the macro.

There are macros for printf(3S) that print both the smallest and largest integer types in decimal, octal, unsigned, and hexadecimal formats as the following example shows:

int64_t i;
printf("i =%" PRIx64 "\n", i);

Similarly, there are macros for scanf(3S)that read both the smallest and largest integer types in decimal, octal, unsigned, and hexadecimal formats.

uint64_t u;
scanf("%" SCNu64 "\n", &u);

Do not use these macros indiscriminately. They are best used in conjunction with the fixed-width types discussed in Fixed-Width Integer Types.