NAME¶

std::numeric_limits::min - std::numeric_limits::min

Synopsis¶

Defined in header <limits>
static T min() throw(); (until C++11)
static constexpr T min() noexcept; (since C++11)

Returns the minimum finite value representable by the numeric type T.

For floating-point types with denormalization, min() returns the minimum positive
normalized value. Note that this behavior may be unexpected, especially when
compared to the behavior of min() for integral types.
To find the value that has no values less than it, use lowest().
(since C++11)

min() is only meaningful for bounded types and for unbounded unsigned types, that
is, types that represent an infinite set of negative values have no meaningful
minimum.

Return value¶

T std::numeric_limits<T>::min()
/* non-specialized */ T()
bool false
char CHAR_MIN
signed char SCHAR_MIN
unsigned char 0
wchar_t WCHAR_MIN
char8_t (since C++20) 0
char16_t (since C++11) 0
char32_t (since C++11) 0
short SHRT_MIN
unsigned short 0
int INT_MIN
unsigned int 0
long LONG_MIN
unsigned long 0
long long (since C++11) LLONG_MIN
unsigned long long (since C++11) 0
float FLT_MIN
double DBL_MIN
long double LDBL_MIN

Example¶

Demonstrates the use with typedef types, and the difference in the sign of the
result between integer and floating-point types:

// Run this code

#include <cstddef>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <limits>

template <typename T>
void print_one(std::string_view type_name)
{
constexpr T min = std::numeric_limits<T>::min();
std::cout
<< std::dec << std::defaultfloat << std::setw(14) << type_name
<< " (" << std::setw(2) << sizeof(T) << " bytes): " << min;

if constexpr (min != 0)
std::cout << " or " << std::showbase << std::hex << std::hexfloat << min;

std::cout << '\n';
}

#define SHOW(T) print_one<T>(#T)

int main()
{
SHOW(bool);
SHOW(short);
SHOW(unsigned short);
SHOW(signed);
SHOW(unsigned);
SHOW(std::ptrdiff_t);
SHOW(std::size_t);
SHOW(float);
SHOW(double);
SHOW(long double);
}

Possible output:¶

bool ( 1 bytes): 0
short ( 2 bytes): -32768 or 0x8000
unsigned short ( 2 bytes): 0
signed ( 4 bytes): -2147483648 or 0x80000000
unsigned ( 4 bytes): 0
std::ptrdiff_t ( 8 bytes): -9223372036854775808 or 0x8000000000000000
std::size_t ( 8 bytes): 0
float ( 4 bytes): 1.17549e-38 or 0x1p-126
double ( 8 bytes): 2.22507e-308 or 0x1p-1022
long double (16 bytes): 3.3621e-4932 or 0x8p-16385

See also¶

lowest returns the lowest finite value of the given type
[static] (C++11) (public static member function)
denorm_min returns the smallest positive subnormal value of the given
[static] floating-point type
(public static member function)
max returns the largest finite value of the given type
[static] (public static member function)