Signed char

signed char is the smallest signed integer type in C++, it often gets typedef-ed as "byte" (alternatively people use unsigned char for that reason) because it uses one byte of memory (depending upon what architecture defines it as, but no less than 8 bits). The range of values that can definitely be stored in this type is -128 – 127.

Relationship with char
signed char uses exact same amount of memory as char, the main difference happens during the output; char gets interpreted as the code of ASCII character, while signed char is interpreted as two's complement signed integer.

Other C++ datatypes of the same size

 * char
 * unsigned char

Other C++ data types storing signed integers

 * short no less than 16 bits, no less than char
 * int no less than 16 bits, no less than short
 * long no less than 32 bits, no less than int
 * long long no less than 64 bits, no less than long