Platform independent size_t Format specifiers in c?

Yes: use the z length modifier:

size_t size = sizeof(char);
printf("the size is %zu\n", size);  // decimal size_t ("u" for unsigned)
printf("the size is %zx\n", size);  // hex size_t

The other length modifiers that are available are hh (for char), h (for short), l (for long), ll (for long long), j (for intmax_t), t (for ptrdiff_t), and L (for long double). See §7.19.6.1 (7) of the C99 standard.


Yes, there is. It is %zu (as specified in ANSI C99).

size_t size = 1;
printf("the size is %zu", size);

Note that size_t is unsigned, thus %ld is double wrong: wrong length modifier and wrong format conversion specifier. In case you wonder, %zd is for ssize_t (which is signed).


MSDN, says that Visual Studio supports the "I" prefix for code portable on 32 and 64 bit platforms.

size_t size = 10;
printf("size is %Iu", size);