std::numeric_limits<T>::min

 
C++
 
Utilities library
Type support (basic types, RTTI, type traits)
Dynamic memory management
Error handling
Program utilities
Variadic functions
Library feature-test macros
Date and time
Function objects
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++14)
Relational operators (deprecated in C++20)
Comparisons (C++20)
Common vocabulary types
(C++11)
(C++17)
(C++17)
(C++17)
(C++17)
(C++17)

Swap, forward and move
(C++14)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
Elementary string conversions
(C++17)
(C++17)
(C++17)
Type operations
(C++11)
(C++17)
(C++17)
 
Type support
Basic types
Fundamental types
Fixed width integer types (C++11)
Numeric limits
C numeric limits interface
Runtime type information
Type traits
Type categories
(C++11)
(C++14)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
Type properties
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++14)
(C++11)
(C++17)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)(until C++20)
(C++11)(deprecated in C++20)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++20)
(C++20)
(C++17)
Type trait constants
(C++11)(C++17)(C++11)(C++11)
Metafunctions
(C++17)
(C++17)
(C++17)
Endian
(C++20)
Constant evaluation context
(C++20)
Supported operations
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)
Relationships and property queries
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)
Type modifications
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
Type transformations
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++20)
(C++11)
(C++17)
(C++11)
(C++11)
(C++20)
(C++11)
(C++11)(until C++20)(C++17)
(C++20)
 
std::numeric_limits
Static constants
(C++11)
Static member functions
numeric_limits::min
(C++11)
Helper types
 
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 ​0​
char16_t ​0​
char32_t ​0​
short SHRT_MIN
unsigned short ​0​
int INT_MIN
unsigned int ​0​
long LONG_MIN
unsigned long ​0​
long long LLONG_MIN
unsigned long long ​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

[static] (C++11)
 returns the lowest finite value of the given type
(public static member function)
[static]
 returns the smallest positive subnormal value of the given floating-point type
(public static member function)
[static]
 returns the largest finite value of the given type
(public static member function)