KITFORMA · EDITORIAL GUIDE
Why does printing size_t with %d produce incorrect output?
KitForma editorial guide. Variadic formatting depends on the format specifying the actual argument type. A mismatch is not a safe numeric conversion and can misread the argument.
Step-by-step guidance
Variadic formatting depends on the format specifying the actual argument type. A mismatch is not a safe numeric conversion and can misread the argument.
For standard C99-and-later size_t formatting use
%zu; for fixed-width integer types use the appropriate inttypes.h macros. Keep format strings literal where possible so compiler format checks can inspect them. Use a cast only when the destination type is proven to represent the value.
Test values beyond int range on the target architecture. A correct small result does not validate the format contract. Legacy runtimes may have different support, so check the actual library instead of copying a compiler-only assumption.Sources and verification
Sources checked:
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