how to print __uint128_t number using gcc?

Is there PRIu128 that behaves similar to PRIu64 from <inttypes.h>:

printf("%" PRIu64 "\n", some_uint64_value);

Or converting manually digit by digit:

int print_uint128(uint128_t n) {
  if (n == 0)  return printf("0\n");

  char str[40] = {0}; // log10(1 << 128) + '\0'
  char *s = str + sizeof(str) - 1; // start at the end
  while (n != 0) {
    if (s == str) return -1; // never happens

    *--s = "0123456789"[n % 10]; // save last digit
    n /= 10;                     // drop it
  }
  return printf("%s\n", s);
}

is the only option?

Note that uint128_t is my own typedef for __uint128_t.

The GCC 4.7.1 manual says:

6.8 128-bits integers

As an extension the integer scalar type __int128 is supported for targets having an integer mode wide enough to hold 128-bit. Simply write __int128 for a signed 128-bit integer, or unsigned __int128 for an unsigned 128-bit integer. There is no support in GCC to express an integer constant of type __int128 for targets having long long integer with less then [sic] 128 bit width.

Interestingly, although that does not mention __uint128_t, that type is accepted, even with stringent warnings set:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
    __uint128_t u128 = 12345678900987654321;
    printf("%llx\n", (unsigned long long)(u128 & 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF));
    return(0);
}

Compilation:

$ gcc -O3 -g -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic xxx.c -o xxx  
xxx.c: In function ‘main’:
xxx.c:6:24: warning: integer constant is so large that it is unsigned [enabled by default]
$

(This is with a home-compiled GCC 4.7.1 on Mac OS X 10.7.4.)

Change the constant to 0x12345678900987654321 and the compiler says:

xxx.c: In function ‘main’:
xxx.c:6:24: warning: integer constant is too large for its type [enabled by default]

So, it isn't easy manipulating these creatures. The outputs with the decimal constant and hex constants are:

ab54a98cdc6770b1
5678900987654321

For printing in decimal, your best bet is to see if the value is larger than UINT64_MAX; if it is, then you divide by the largest power of 10 that is smaller than UINT64_MAX, print that number (and you might need to repeat the process a second time), then print the residue modulo the largest power of 10 that is smaller than UINT64_MAX, remembering to pad with leading zeroes.

This leads to something like:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <inttypes.h>

/*
** Using documented GCC type unsigned __int128 instead of undocumented
** obsolescent typedef name __uint128_t.  Works with GCC 4.7.1 but not
** GCC 4.1.2 (but __uint128_t works with GCC 4.1.2) on Mac OS X 10.7.4.
*/
typedef unsigned __int128 uint128_t;

/*      UINT64_MAX 18446744073709551615ULL */
#define P10_UINT64 10000000000000000000ULL   /* 19 zeroes */
#define E10_UINT64 19

#define STRINGIZER(x)   # x
#define TO_STRING(x)    STRINGIZER(x)

static int print_u128_u(uint128_t u128)
{
    int rc;
    if (u128 > UINT64_MAX)
    {
        uint128_t leading  = u128 / P10_UINT64;
        uint64_t  trailing = u128 % P10_UINT64;
        rc = print_u128_u(leading);
        rc += printf("%." TO_STRING(E10_UINT64) PRIu64, trailing);
    }
    else
    {
        uint64_t u64 = u128;
        rc = printf("%" PRIu64, u64);
    }
    return rc;
}

int main(void)
{
    uint128_t u128a = ((uint128_t)UINT64_MAX + 1) * 0x1234567890ABCDEFULL +
                      0xFEDCBA9876543210ULL;
    uint128_t u128b = ((uint128_t)UINT64_MAX + 1) * 0xF234567890ABCDEFULL +
                      0x1EDCBA987654320FULL;
    int ndigits = print_u128_u(u128a);
    printf("\n%d digits\n", ndigits);
    ndigits = print_u128_u(u128b);
    printf("\n%d digits\n", ndigits);
    return(0);
}

The output from that is:

24197857200151252746022455506638221840
38 digits
321944928255972408260334335944939549199
39 digits

We can verify using bc:

$ bc
bc 1.06
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'. 
ibase = 16
1234567890ABCDEFFEDCBA9876543210
24197857200151252746022455506638221840
F234567890ABCDEF1EDCBA987654320F
321944928255972408260334335944939549199
quit
$

Clearly, for hex, the process is simpler; you can shift and mask and print in just two operations. For octal, since 64 is not a multiple of 3, you have to go through analogous steps to the decimal operation.

The print_u128_u() interface is not ideal, but it does at least return the number of characters printed, just as printf() does. Adapting the code to format the result into a string buffer is a not wholly trivial exercise in programming, but not dreadfully difficult.

No there isn't support in the library for printing these types. They aren't even extended integer types in the sense of the C standard.

Your idea for starting the printing from the back is a good one, but you could use much larger chunks. In some tests for P99 I have such a function that uses

uint64_t const d19 = UINT64_C(10000000000000000000);

as the largest power of 10 that fits into an uint64_t.

As decimal, these big numbers get unreadable very soon so another, easier, option is to print them in hex. Then you can do something like

  uint64_t low = (uint64_t)x;
  // This is UINT64_MAX, the largest number in 64 bit
  // so the longest string that the lower half can occupy
  char buf[] = { "18446744073709551615" };
  sprintf(buf, "%" PRIX64, low);

to get the lower half and then basically the same with

  uint64_t high = (x >> 64);

for the upper half.

I don't have a built-in solution, but division/modulus is expensive. You can convert binary to decimal with just shifts.

static char *qtoa(uint128_t n) {
    static char buf[40];
    unsigned int i, j, m = 39;
    memset(buf, 0, 40);
    for (i = 128; i-- > 0;) {
        int carry = !!(n & ((uint128_t)1 << i));
        for (j = 39; j-- > m + 1 || carry;) {
            int d = 2 * buf[j] + carry;
            carry = d > 9;
            buf[j] = carry ? d - 10 : d;
        }
        m = j;
    }
    for (i = 0; i < 38; i++) {
        if (buf[i]) {
            break;
        }
    }
    for (j = i; j < 39; j++) {
        buf[j] += '0';
    }
    return buf + i;
}

(But apparently 128-bit division/modulus are not as expensive as I thought. On a Phenom 9600 with GCC 4.7 and Clang 3.1 at -O2, this seems to run a 2x-3x slower than OP's method.)

You can use this simple macro :

typedef __int128_t int128 ;
typedef __uint128_t uint128 ;

uint128  x = (uint128) 123;

printf("__int128 max  %016"PRIx64"%016"PRIx64"\n",(uint64)(x>>64),(uint64)x);

Based on sebastian's answer, this is for signed int128 in g++, not thread safe.

// g++ -Wall fact128.c && a.exe
// 35! overflows 128bits

#include <stdio.h>

char * sprintf_int128( __int128_t n ) {
    static char str[41] = { 0 };        // sign + log10(2**128) + '\0'
    char *s = str + sizeof( str ) - 1;  // start at the end
    bool neg = n < 0;
    if( neg )
        n = -n;
    do {
        *--s = "0123456789"[n % 10];    // save last digit
        n /= 10;                // drop it
    } while ( n );
    if( neg )
        *--s = '-';
    return s;
}

__int128_t factorial( __int128_t i ) {
    return i < 2 ? i : i * factorial( i - 1 );
}

int main(  ) {
    for( int i = 0; i < 35; i++ )
        printf( "fact(%d)=%s\n", i, sprintf_int128( factorial( i ) ) );
    return 0;
}