EDIT: I was wrong, a char is always sizeof 1, See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26131228 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26131228 // old reply: I

EDIT: I was wrong, a char is always sizeof 1, See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26131228 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26131228 // old reply: I already replied to nanis above, so i+l just c/p it here. CHAR_BIT is a minimum of 1 byte (8 bits), but is not guaranteed to be 1. http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf (Annex E)