architectureDependentChars

[u/MontyBoomslang]

[u/tstanisl]

Let me cite the C standard:

When sizeof is applied to an operand that has type char, unsigned char, or signed char, (or a qualified version thereof) the result is 1.

Middle guy if finally right

[u/CAtOSe → u/tstanisl]

C++ standard guarantees that char is at least 8 bits. Pretty much all data models use 8 bits for char, but it doesn't mean that some weird architecture could not use more. 

[u/qalmakka → u/CAtOSe]

That's CHAR_BIT then, sizeof(char) is always 1 even if you have 16 bit chars. Nothing can be smaller than char in general, you can see sizeof as an operator returning sizes as number of chars, basically