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+.. _arduino-char:
+
+char
+====
+
+Description
+-----------
+
+A data type that takes up 1 byte of memory that stores a character
+value. Character literals are written in single quotes, like this:
+'A' (for multiple characters - strings - use double quotes:
+"ABC").
+
+
+
+Characters are stored as numbers however. You can see the specific
+encoding in the
+`ASCII chart <http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/ASCIIchart>`_. This
+means that it is possible to do arithmetic on characters, in which
+the ASCII value of the character is used (e.g. 'A' + 1 has the
+value 66, since the ASCII value of the capital letter A is 65). See
+`Serial.println <http://arduino.cc/en/Serial/Println>`_ reference
+for more on how characters are translated to numbers.
+
+
+
+The char datatype is a signed type, meaning that it encodes numbers
+from -128 to 127. For an unsigned, one-byte (8 bit) data type, use
+the *byte* data type.
+
+
+
+Example
+-------
+
+::
+
+ char myChar = 'A';
+ char myChar = 65; // both are equivalent
+
+
+
+See also
+--------
+
+
+- `byte <http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Byte>`_
+- `int <http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Int>`_
+- `array <http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Array>`_
+- `Serial.println <http://arduino.cc/en/Serial/Println>`_
+