Tokens in C
Tokens in C can be defined as the smallest individual component that is meaningful to compiler . In pervious article i told that character set is analogous to "alphabets" just like that tokens are similar to "word" . Combination of two or more characters give birth to tokens.
Simplest Token for example is combination of two character "\n" , here \n represents newline so it is meaningful to compiler. If we write \n any where in the program , compiler will understand newline. Just like that we have \t for tab .
There are many types of tokens which are given below with example
1. Keywords
int , main , void , float , char , for, if , else , switch , goto , continue , break , struct, typedef etc
These keywords are tokens as it is understood by compiler have their own meaning.
2. Identifiers
All naming of variable , function ,arrays , structures, pointers etc
we will learn more about this later.
3. contants
#define , const etc we will learn more later in respective article.
4. strings
Strings are array of characters like john is array of 4 characters j , o ,h ,n .
They are represented by char name[4]. we will learn later in details about arrays and strings.
5. special symbols
# , * { } [ ]
6. operator
Arithmetic operators like + - / * , comparison operators like == ,>= , <= ,!=