Java's L number (long) specification

jbu picture jbu · Apr 20, 2009 · Viewed 139.4k times · Source

It appears that when you type in a number in Java, the compiler automatically reads it as an integer, which is why when you type in (long) 6000000000 (not in integer's range) it will complain that 6000000000 is not an integer. To correct this, I had to specify 6000000000L. I just learned about this specification.

Are there other number specifications like for short, byte, float, double? It seems like these would be good to have because (I assume) if you could specify the number you're typing in is a short then java wouldn't have to cast it - that is an assumption, correct me if I'm wrong. I would normally search this question myself, but I don't know what this kind of number specification is even called.

Answer

Simon Nickerson picture Simon Nickerson · Apr 20, 2009

There are specific suffixes for long (e.g. 39832L), float (e.g. 2.4f) and double (e.g. -7.832d).

If there is no suffix, and it is an integral type (e.g. 5623), it is assumed to be an int. If it is not an integral type (e.g. 3.14159), it is assumed to be a double.

In all other cases (byte, short, char), you need the cast as there is no specific suffix.

The Java spec allows both upper and lower case suffixes, but the upper case version for longs is preferred, as the upper case L is less easy to confuse with a numeral 1 than the lower case l.

See the JLS section 3.10 for the gory details (see the definition of IntegerTypeSuffix).