Integers

An integer type is a range constrained field type. The Noir frontend supports both unsigned and signed integer types. The allowed sizes are 1, 8, 16, 32 and 64 bits.

info

When an integer is defined in Noir without a specific type, it will default to Field.

The one exception is for loop indices which default to u64 since comparisons on Fields are not possible.

Unsigned Integers

An unsigned integer type is specified first with the letter u (indicating its unsigned nature) followed by its bit size (e.g. 8):

fn main() {
    let x: u8 = 1;
    let y: u8 = 1;
    let z = x + y;
    assert (z == 2);
}

The bit size determines the maximum value the integer type can store. For example, a u8 variable can store a value in the range of 0 to 255 (i.e. $\\2^{8}-1\\$).

Signed Integers

A signed integer type is specified first with the letter i (which stands for integer) followed by its bit size (e.g. 8):

fn main() {
    let x: i8 = -1;
    let y: i8 = -1;
    let z = x + y;
    assert (z == -2);
}

The bit size determines the maximum and minimum range of value the integer type can store. For example, an i8 variable can store a value in the range of -128 to 127 (i.e. $\\-2^{7}\\$ to $\\2^{7}-1\\$).

128 bits Unsigned Integers

The built-in structure U128 allows you to use 128-bit unsigned integers almost like a native integer type. However, there are some differences to keep in mind:

• You cannot cast between a native integer and U128
• There is a higher performance cost when using U128, compared to a native type.

Conversion between unsigned integer types and U128 are done through the use of from_integer and to_integer functions. from_integer also accepts the Field type as input.

fn main() {
    let x = U128::from_integer(23);
    let y = U128::from_hex("0x7");
    let z = x + y;
    assert(z.to_integer() == 30);
}

U128 is implemented with two 64 bits limbs, representing the low and high bits, which explains the performance cost. You should expect U128 to be twice more costly for addition and four times more costly for multiplication. You can construct a U128 from its limbs:

fn main(x: u64, y: u64) {
    let x = U128::from_u64s_be(x,y);
    assert(z.hi == x as Field);
    assert(z.lo == y as Field);
}

Note that the limbs are stored as Field elements in order to avoid unnecessary conversions. Apart from this, most operations will work as usual:

fn main(x: U128, y: U128) {
    // multiplication
    let c = x * y;
    // addition and subtraction
    let c = c - x + y;
    // division
    let c = x / y;
    // bit operation;
    let c = x & y | y;
    // bit shift
    let c = x << y;
    // comparisons;
    let c = x < y;
    let c = x == y;
}

Overflows

Computations that exceed the type boundaries will result in overflow errors. This happens with both signed and unsigned integers. For example, attempting to prove:

fn main(x: u8, y: u8) {
    let z = x + y;
}

With:

x = "255"
y = "1"

Would result in:

$ nargo execute
error: Assertion failed: 'attempt to add with overflow'
┌─ ~/src/main.nr:9:13
│
│     let z = x + y;
│             -----
│
= Call stack:
  ...

A similar error would happen with signed integers:

fn main() {
    let x: i8 = -118;
    let y: i8 = -11;
    let z = x + y;
}

Wrapping methods

Although integer overflow is expected to error, some use-cases rely on wrapping. For these use-cases, the standard library provides wrapping variants of certain common operations:

fn wrapping_add<T>(x: T, y: T) -> T;
fn wrapping_sub<T>(x: T, y: T) -> T;
fn wrapping_mul<T>(x: T, y: T) -> T;

Example of how it is used:

fn main(x: u8, y: u8) -> pub u8 {
    std::wrapping_add(x, y)
}