Latin Small Letter C
At ASCII code point 99 (0x63), lowercase 'c' is a hexadecimal digit representing the value 12 and one of the more phonetically versatile consonants in English — alternating between a hard /k/ sound (cat, code) and a soft /s/ (cell, cipher) depending on the vowel that follows. It accounts for roughly 2.8 % of characters in typical English corpora and sits 32 above its uppercase counterpart 'C' at 67 (0x43), preserving the single-bit case offset (bit 5) shared by all ASCII A–Z / a–z pairs.
Technical Details
Code Example
</>
// Hex digit 'c' to integerchar hex = 'c';int val = (hex >= 'a') ? (hex - 'a' + 10) : (hex - '0');// val == 12
Common Usage
Hexadecimal digit: Lowercase 'c' represents the value 12 in hex notation, appearing regularly in color values (#cc3333), byte sequences, SHA fingerprints, and MAC addresses. Repeated hex digits are common in CSS shorthand colors (#ccc for a mid-grey).
Naming legacy in programming: The letter lends its name to a language widely regarded as one of the most influential in computing history — C — and by extension to C++, C#, and Objective-C, giving it an outsized presence in software engineering terminology and toolchain naming.
Format specifier and escape contexts: In C-family printf-style formatting, %c denotes a single-character argument. Separately, in POSIX shell quoting (printf '\cX') and certain regex dialects, \c acts as a control-character prefix — a subtle inconsistency to account for when moving between string-processing and pattern-matching contexts.
Diacritical variants: The cedilla form ç is essential in French, Portuguese, and Turkish orthography; č (caron) appears across Slavic languages; and ć (acute) is standard in Polish and Croatian — giving 'c' a broad international presence despite its relatively moderate frequency in unmodified English.
Hexadecimal digit: Lowercase 'c' represents the value 12 in hex notation, appearing regularly in color values (#cc3333), byte sequences, SHA fingerprints, and MAC addresses. Repeated hex digits are common in CSS shorthand colors (#ccc for a mid-grey).
Naming legacy in programming: The letter lends its name to a language widely regarded as one of the most influential in computing history — C — and by extension to C++, C#, and Objective-C, giving it an outsized presence in software engineering terminology and toolchain naming.
Format specifier and escape contexts: In C-family printf-style formatting, %c denotes a single-character argument. Separately, in POSIX shell quoting (printf '\cX') and certain regex dialects, \c acts as a control-character prefix — a subtle inconsistency to account for when moving between string-processing and pattern-matching contexts.
Diacritical variants: The cedilla form ç is essential in French, Portuguese, and Turkish orthography; č (caron) appears across Slavic languages; and ć (acute) is standard in Polish and Croatian — giving 'c' a broad international presence despite its relatively moderate frequency in unmodified English.