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c++visual-c++floating-pointinfinity

Infinity in MSVC++

I'm using MSVC++, and I want to use the special value INFINITY in my code.

What's the byte pattern or constant to use in MSVC++ for infinity?

Why does 1.0f/0.0f appear to have the value 0?

#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>

int main()
{
  float zero = 0.0f ;
  float inf = 1.0f/zero ;

  printf( "%f\n", inf ) ; // 1.#INF00
  printf( "%x\n", inf ) ; // why is this 0?

  printf( "%f\n", zero ) ; // 0.000000
  printf( "%x\n", zero ) ; // 0

}
Solution

  • Use numeric_limits:

    #include <limits>

float maxFloat = std::numeric_limits<float>::infinity();