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 numeric_limits::lowest.

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 (C++20) 0
char16_t (C++11) 0
char32_t (C++11) 0
short SHRT_MIN
unsigned short 0
int INT_MIN
unsigned int 0
long LONG_MIN
unsigned long 0
long long (C++11) LLONG_MIN
unsigned long long (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 <limits>
#include <cstddef>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
std::cout
<< "short: " << std::dec << std::numeric_limits<short>::min()
<< " or " << std::hex << std::showbase
<< std::numeric_limits<short>::min() << '\n'

<< "int: " << std::dec << std::numeric_limits<int>::min() << std::showbase
<< " or " << std::hex << std::numeric_limits<int>::min() << '\n' << std::dec

<< "ptrdiff_t: " << std::numeric_limits<std::ptrdiff_t>::min() << std::showbase
<< " or " << std::hex << std::numeric_limits<std::ptrdiff_t>::min() << '\n'

<< "float: " << std::numeric_limits<float>::min()
<< " or " << std::hexfloat << std::numeric_limits<float>::min() << '\n'

<< "double: " << std::defaultfloat << std::numeric_limits<double>::min()
<< " or " << std::hexfloat << std::numeric_limits<double>::min() << '\n';
}

Possible output:

short: -32768 or 0x8000
int: -2147483648 or 0x80000000
ptrdiff_t: -9223372036854775808 or 0x8000000000000000
float: 1.17549e-38 or 0x1p-126
double: 2.22507e-308 or 0x1p-1022

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)