{"id":177,"date":"2021-12-31T14:18:09","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T14:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kindsonthegenius.com\/scala\/?p=177"},"modified":"2026-10-29T01:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:30:47","slug":"scala-data-types","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kindsonthegenius.com\/scala\/scala-data-types\/","title":{"rendered":"Scala – Data Types"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since Scala has some similarity with Java, it is no surprise that it has the same data types as in Java. Although there are a few additional data types.<\/p>\n

We cover the following sub-topics:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Scala Data Types<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Literals in Scala<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Escape Sequences<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Scala Data Types<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    The table below gives a list of Scala data types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Data Type<\/th>\nBrief Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
    Byte<\/b><\/td>\n8 bit signed value. Range from -128 to 127<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Short<\/b><\/td>\n16 bit signed value. Range -32768 to 32767<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Int<\/b><\/td>\n32 bit signed value. Range -2147483648 to 2147483647<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Long<\/b><\/td>\n64 bit signed value. -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Float<\/b><\/td>\n32 bit IEEE 754 single-precision float<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Double<\/b><\/td>\n64 bit IEEE 754 double-precision float<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Char<\/b><\/td>\n16 bit unsigned Unicode character. Range from U+0000 to U+FFFF<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    String<\/b><\/td>\nA sequence of Chars<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Boolean<\/b><\/td>\nEither the literal true or the literal false<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Unit<\/b><\/td>\nCorresponds to no value<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Null<\/b><\/td>\nnull or empty reference<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Nothing<\/b><\/td>\nThe subtype of every other type; includes no values<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Any<\/b><\/td>\nThe supertype of any type; any object is of type\u00a0Any<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    AnyRef\u00a0<\/b><\/td>\nThe supertype of any reference type<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Just like in Python, all data types in Scala are object data types<\/p>\n

    It is also good to know that that the data types in Scala are objects. Also called reference types or non-primitive types. This means that the<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    2. Literals in Scala<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Literals are used to define a constant value for example ‘Kindson’, 0.023, 120.<\/p>\n

    Let’s take a look at some of the basic literals in Scala programming language.<\/p>\n

    Int Literals – These are values without a decimal point. I could be of type Long when suffixed by L or l. Otherwise it is an Int<\/p>\n

    Floating Point Literals<\/strong> – These are floating point values which maybe sometimes followed by the suffix F or\u00a0 f. When followed by a suffix, it is a Float, otherwise it is a double.<\/p>\n

    Boolean Literals<\/strong> – Boolean literals are true<\/strong> or false<\/strong> values<\/p>\n

    Symbol Literals<\/strong> – A symbol literal ‘x’ in scala represents the expression scala.Symbol(“x”)<\/p>\n

    Character Literals<\/strong> – Character literals in Scala is enclosed in single quotes. For example ‘A’, ‘2’. The character could also be an escape sequence (‘\\n’ for example) or unicode characters (‘\\u0041’) for example.<\/p>\n

    String Literals<\/strong> – Just like in Java, String literals in Scala is enclosed in double quotes.<\/p>\n

    Multi-line Strings<\/strong> – A multi-line string in Scala begins with tripple double quotes (“””) and ends with same. An example is given below:<\/p>\n

    \"\"\"this is example <\/span>\r\n of multi-line string<\/span>\r\nin scala programming.\"\"\"<\/span>\r\n<\/pre>\n
     <\/p>\n
    Null Values<\/strong> – Null value is scala is of type scala.Null. It represents a reference to a special “null” object<\/p>\n
     <\/p>\n
    3. Escape Sequences<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    An escape sequence is a sequence of characters that when used within a string, translates to another character or sequence which would otherwise be difficult to represent directly. For instance, ‘\\n’ translates a newline.<\/p>\n
    The table below provides a list of escape sequences in Scala.<\/p>\n
     <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Escape Sequences<\/th>\nUnicode<\/th>\nDescription<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\n<\/td>\n\\u000c<\/td>\nnewline NL (Form feed)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\t<\/td>\n\\u0009<\/td>\nhorizontal tab HT<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\b<\/td>\n\\u0008<\/td>\nbackspace BS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\f<\/td>\n\\u000c<\/td>\nformfeed FF<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\r<\/td>\n\\u000d<\/td>\ncarriage return CR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\”<\/td>\n\\u0022<\/td>\ndouble quote “<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\’<\/td>\n\\u0027<\/td>\nsingle quote .<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \\\\<\/td>\n\\u005c<\/td>\nbackslash \\<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Since Scala has some similarity with Java, it is no surprise that it has the same data types as in Java. Although there are a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scala-programming","tag-data-types"],"yoast_head":"\nScala - Data Types | Kindson The Genius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scala - Data Types \u2014 free Scala tutorial by Kindson Munonye with clear examples. Step-by-step for beginners. Part of Kindson The Genius. 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