What is size_t in C?

Question

I am getting confused with size_t in C. I know that it is returned by the sizeof operator. But what exactly is it? Is it a data type?

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Answer 1

size_t or any unsigned type might be seen used as loop variable as loop variables are typically greater than or equal to 0.

When we use a size_t object, we have to make sure that in all the contexts it is used, including arithmetic, we want only non-negative values. For instance, following program would definitely give the unexpected result:

// C program to demonstrate that size_t or
// any unsigned int type should be used 
// carefully when used in a loop

#include
int main()
{
const size_t N = 10;
int a[N];

// This is fine
for (size_t n = 0; n < N; ++n)
a[n] = n;

// But reverse cycles are tricky for unsigned 
// types as can lead to infinite loop
for (size_t n = N-1; n >= 0; --n)
printf("%d ", a[n]);
}

Output
Infinite loop and then segmentation fault