Negative ASCII value

Question

What\'s the point of negative ASCII values?

int a = \'«\'; //a = -85 but as in ASCII table \'<<\' should be 174

Answer 1

I had this artifact. When you use char as symbols you have no problem. But when you use it as integer (with isalpha(), etc.) and the ASCII code is greater then 127, then the 'char' interpret as 'signed char' and isalpha() return an exception. When I need use the 'char' as integer I cast the 'char' to unsigned:

• isalpha((unsigned char)my_char);

@n0rd: koi8 codepage uses ascii from 128 to 255 and other national codepages: http://www.asciitable.com/