Why is %c used in C?

Question

According to K&R C section 1.6, a `char` is a type of integer. So why do we need `%c`. And why can't we use `%d` for everything?

Accepted Answer

Because `%d` will print the numeric character code of the `char`:

```
printf("%d", 'a');
```

prints `97` (on an ASCII system), while

```
printf("%c", 'a');
```

prints `a`.

Solution