abs

Integer absolute value function

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Contents

Interface

#include <stdlib.h>
int  abs (int j)

The abs function computes the absolute value of the integer j, denoted by $\inline |j|$ and defined through:

$|j| := \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} j, & j \geq 0, \\ -j, & j < 0. \end{array} \right.$

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
int main()
{
  int a = -127;
  printf("|a| = %d\n", abs(a));
  return 0;
}

Output:

|a| = 127

The abs function returns the absolute value.

The absolute value of the most negative integer remains negative.