What Characters Are Allowed in C Variable Names?

Variable Naming Conventions in C

In C , variable names are composed of a sequence of characters, but not all characters are permissible. Understanding what characters can be used in variable names is essential for writing syntactically correct code.

Valid Characters in C Variable Names

According to the C standard, only the following characters are allowed in variable names:

• Alphabetical letters (both uppercase and lowercase)
• Digits (0-9)
• The underscore character (_)

Unicode and Variable Names

The C standard requires compilers to accept almost any Unicode character that is classified as alphabetic. However, in practice, compilers may not fully support this requirement. Additionally, not all compilers support using the dollar sign ($) in variable names.

Other Weird Characters

While the standard only allows alphanumeric characters and the underscore, some compilers may offer extensions that allow additional characters. However, these extensions are not portable across different compilers.

Best Practices

To ensure the portability and readability of your code, it is recommended to restrict variable names to the characters specified in the C standard: unaccented letters (upper or lower case), digits, and the underscore. Avoiding non-standard characters will minimize the risk of compilation errors and promote code clarity.

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