What is variable typecasting in Pascal?

Typecasting a variable means converting a variable from one data type to another. There are two types of typecasting in Pascal:

  • Implicit typecasting: Typecasting in which the range of values of the source data type is less than the range of values of the destination data type is called implicit typecasting.
  • Explicit typecasting: Typecasting in which the range of values of the source data type is greater than the range of values of the destination data type is called explicit typecasting.

Variable typecasting

Variable typecasting temporarily converts the data type of a variable. It does not change the contents of the variable. The variable typecasting of a variable can be done as follows:

_newDatatype_(_variable_)
  • _newDatatype_: The datatype in which _variable_ will be converted.
  • _variable_: The variable to be converted into the datatype _newDatatype_.

Note: Variable typecasting works on the variables whose addresses we can take.

Variable typecasting vs value typecasting

We can use variable typecasting on both sides of the assignment operator. We cannot use value typecasting on the left side of an assignment.

Code

Example 1

Consider the code snippet below, which demonstrates the use of variable typecasting.

program Example1;
var 
  ch1: Char = 'a';
  num1: Integer = 10;
begin
  writeln('');
  num1 := Integer(ch1);
  writeln('a typecased as integer: ', num1);
  ch1 := Char(num1);
  writeln('97 typecased as character: ', ch1);
end.

Explanation

  • Line 7: A character ch1 is typecased to an integer num1.
  • Line 10: An integer num1 is typecased to a character ch1.

Example 2

Consider the code snippet below, which demonstrates variable typecasting on the left side of an assignment.

program Example2;
var 
  ch1: Char = 'a';
  ch2: Byte;
begin
  writeln('');
  Char(ch2) := ch1;
  writeln('byte typecased as char: ',ch2);
  Byte(ch1) := ch2;
  writeln('char typecased as byte: ',ch1);
end.

Explanation

  • Line 7: A byte ch2 is typecased to a character ch1.
  • Line 10: A character ch1 is typecased to a byte ch2.

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