%g and %e in c

Explanation of %g in C

In C, the format specifier %g is used in printf and scanf functions to format and parse floating-point numbers. It is a versatile format specifier that automatically chooses between %f and %e based on the value being printed or scanned.

When used with printf, %g formats the floating-point number in either decimal or exponential notation, depending on the magnitude of the number. It removes trailing zeros and unnecessary decimal places to provide a concise representation of the number.

For example, consider the following code snippet:

double number = 123.456789;
printf("%g", number);

The output of this code will be 123.457, as %g chooses the decimal notation for numbers with a magnitude between 0.0001 and 10,000.

Similarly, when used with scanf, %g parses a floating-point number in either decimal or exponential notation. It can handle input in both formats and convert it to a double value.

Explanation of %e in C

In C, the format specifier %e is used in printf and scanf functions to format and parse floating-point numbers in exponential notation. It represents the number as a mantissa and an exponent.

When used with printf, %e formats the floating-point number in exponential notation. It prints the mantissa with a single digit before the decimal point and the exponent as a power of 10.

For example, consider the following code snippet:

double number = 123.456789;
printf("%e", number);

The output of this code will be 1.234568e+02, as %e formats the number in exponential notation.

Similarly, when used with scanf, %e parses a floating-point number in exponential notation. It can handle input in the form of 1.234568e+02 and convert it to a double value.

Example Usage:

Here's an example that demonstrates the usage of %g and %e in C:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    double number = 123456.789;
    printf("Using %%g: %g\n", number);
    printf("Using %%e: %e\n", number);
    return 0;
}

Output:

Using %g: 123457
Using %e: 1.234568e+05

In this example, %g is used to format the number 123456.789 in decimal notation, resulting in 123457. %e is used to format the same number in exponential notation, resulting in 1.234568e+05.

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