freeCodeCamp/guide/english/c/hello-world/index.md

---
title: Hello World C
---

 ## Hello World

Probably the first line of text that everyone prints out on the console when one begins his/her remarkable journey of this endless programming world.
To write on console you can use the function `printf()` contained in the library `include <stdio.h>`

 ```C
 #include <stdio.h>

 int main(void)
 {
     printf("hello, world\n");  // lines starting with this (//) are called comments..

     //this code prints "Hello World!"
     printf("Hello World!\n"); //<-- the \n character prints a newline after the string  

     return 0;
 }
 ```
 
  ## Explanation 
  
 * The `#include <stdio.h>` is a preprocessor command. This command tells compiler to include the contents of `stdio.h` (standard input and output) header file in the program.
 * The `stdio.h` file contains functions such as `scanf()` and `printf()` to take input and display output respectively.
 * If you use `printf()` function without writing `#include <stdio.h>`, the program will not be compiled.
 * Two backslash characters (//) are used to _comment_ the code, for better understandability. Anything after // on a line is ignored while compiling the program.
 * The execution of a C program starts from the `main()` function.
 * The `printf()` is a library function to send formatted output to the screen. In this program, the `printf()` displays `Hello World!` text on the screen.
 * The `\n` in `printf` creates a new line for the forthcoming text. 
 * The `return 0;` statement is the "Exit status" of the program. In simple terms, program ends with this statement


 ## Output:
 ```
 Hello World!
 ```
 
 #### More Information
 
 * Conventionally, the first ever program you write is the "hello world" program, be it in any language.
 * This is because Brian Kernighan was the  first  to write "hello, world" program for the documentation of the BCPL programming language developed by Martin Richards.