In Python and Ruby, signed integer division truncates towards negative infinity, and signed integer modulus has the same sign the second operand:
>>> (-41) / 3
-14
>>> (-41) % 3
1
However, in C and Java, signed integer division truncates towards 0, and signed integer modulus has the same sign as the first operand:
printf("%d\n", (-41) / 3); /* prints "-13" */
printf("%d\n", (-41) % 3); /* prints "-2" */
What is the simplest and most efficient way in C to perform the same kind of division and modulus as in Python and Ruby?
The direction for rounding with signed integer division is not specified in older C standards. However, in C99 it is specified to round towards zero.
Here's portable code which works with all versions of the C standards and CPU architectures:
int py_div(int a, int b)
{
if (a < 0)
if (b < 0)
return -a / -b;
else
return -(-a / b) - (-a % b != 0 ? 1 : 0);
else if (b < 0)
return -(a / -b) - (a % -b != 0 ? 1 : 0);
else
return a / b;
}
int py_mod(int a, int b)
{
if (a < 0)
if (b < 0)
return -(-a % -b);
else
return -a % b - (-a % -b != 0 ? 1 : 0);
else if (b < 0)
return -(a % -b) + (-a % -b != 0 ? 1 : 0);
else
return a % b;
}
I did some superficial tests and it appears to give the same results as Python. This code may not be maximally efficient, but a good C compiler can probably optimize it adequately, especially if you put the code in a header as static functions.
You may also want to take a look at this closely related question: Integer division rounding with negatives in C++.