Convert unsigned int to signed int C

Question

I am trying to convert 65529 from an unsigned int to a signed int. I tried doing a cast like this:

unsigned int x = 65         


        

Answer 1

To answer the question posted in the comment above - try something like this:

unsigned short int x = 65529U;
short int y = (short int)x;

printf("%d\n", y);

or

unsigned short int x = 65529U;
short int y = 0;

memcpy(&y, &x, sizeof(short int);
printf("%d\n", y);

Answer 2

To understand why, you need to know that the CPU represents signed numbers using the two's complement (maybe not all, but many).

    byte n = 1; //0000 0001 =  1
    n = ~n + 1; //1111 1110 + 0000 0001 = 1111 1111 = -1

And also, that the type int and unsigned int can be of different sized depending on your CPU. When doing specific stuff like this:

   #include <stdint.h>
   int8_t ibyte;
   uint8_t ubyte;
   int16_t iword;
   //......

Answer 3

The representation of the values 65529u and -7 are identical for 16-bit ints. Only the interpretation of the bits is different.

For larger ints and these values, you need to sign extend; one way is with logical operations

int y = (int )(x | 0xffff0000u); // assumes 16 to 32 extension, x is > 32767

If speed is not an issue, or divide is fast on your processor,

int y = ((int ) (x * 65536u)) / 65536;

The multiply shifts left 16 bits (again, assuming 16 to 32 extension), and the divide shifts right maintaining the sign.