What does sign function mean in c language?

The sign function of C language returns the following value according to the sign of the given integer: positive number returns 1, negative number returns -1, zero returns 0. This function determines the integer sign through shift operation. MSB 0 means positive number (return 1), MSB 1 means negative number (return -1), MSB 0 means zero (return 0).

The sign function in C language

Introduction
The sign function in C language Function determines the sign of a given integer.

Function prototype
int sign(int x);

##Parameters

• x: The integer whose sign is to be determined.

Return value

• The return value can be one of the following three values:
  If If
  • x is positive, 1 is returned.
  If
  • x is negative, -1 is returned.
  Returns 0 if
  • x is zero.

How it worksThe sign function uses shift operations to determine the sign of a given integer.

If the most significant bit (MSB) of
• x is 0, then x is a positive number and the function returns 1.
If the most significant bit of
• x is 1, then x is a negative number and the function returns -1.
If
• x is zero, the most significant bit is 0 and the function returns 0.

Example

<code class="c">#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
  int num1 = 5;
  int num2 = -12;
  int num3 = 0;

  printf("sign(%d) = %d\n", num1, sign(num1)); // 输出：sign(5) = 1
  printf("sign(%d) = %d\n", num2, sign(num2)); // 输出：sign(-12) = -1
  printf("sign(%d) = %d\n", num3, sign(num3)); // 输出：sign(0) = 0
  
  return 0;
}</code>

Output

<code>sign(5) = 1
sign(-12) = -1
sign(0) = 0</code>

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