Arrays allow to define type of variables that can hold several data items of

the same kind. Similarly structure is another user defined data type
available in C that allows to combine data items of different kinds.

Structures are used to represent a record. Suppose you want to keep track
of your books in a library. You might want to track the following attributes
about each book

Title

Author

Subject

Book ID

Defining a Structure
To define a structure, you must use the struct statement. The struct
statement defines a new data type, with more than one member. The format
of the struct statement is as follows

struct [structure tag] {

member definition;
member definition;
...
member definition;
} [one or more structure variables];

The structure tag is optional and each member definition is a normal

variable definition, such as int i; or float f; or any other valid variable
definition. At the end of the structure's definition, before the final semicolon,
you can specify one or more structure variables but it is optional. Here is the
way you would declare the Book structure

struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
 char subject[100];
int book_id;
} book;

Accessing Structure Members

To access any member of a structure, we use the member access operator
(.). The member access operator is coded as a period between the structure
variable name and the structure member that we wish to access. You would
use the keyword struct to define variables of structure type. The following
example shows how to use a structure in a program

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};

int main( ) {

struct Books Book1; /* Declare Book1 of type Book */

struct Books Book2; /* Declare Book2 of type Book */

/* book 1 specification */
strcpy( Book1.title, "C Programming");
strcpy( Book1.author, "Nuha Ali");
strcpy( Book1.subject, "C Programming Tutorial");
Book1.book_id = 6495407;

/* book 2 specification */
strcpy( Book2.title, "Telecom Billing");
 strcpy( Book2.author, "Zara Ali");
strcpy( Book2.subject, "Telecom Billing Tutorial");
Book2.book_id = 6495700;

/* print Book1 info */

printf( "Book 1 title : %s\n", Book1.title);
printf( "Book 1 author : %s\n", Book1.author);
printf( "Book 1 subject : %s\n", Book1.subject);
printf( "Book 1 book_id : %d\n", Book1.book_id);

/* print Book2 info */

printf( "Book 2 title : %s\n", Book2.title);
printf( "Book 2 author : %s\n", Book2.author);
printf( "Book 2 subject : %s\n", Book2.subject);
printf( "Book 2 book_id : %d\n", Book2.book_id);

return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following
result

Book 1 title : C Programming

Book 1 author : Nuha Ali
Book 1 subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book 1 book_id : 6495407
Book 2 title : Telecom Billing
Book 2 author : Zara Ali
Book 2 subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book 2 book_id : 6495700

Structures as Function Arguments

You can pass a structure as a function argument in the same way as you pass
any other variable or pointer.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};

/* function declaration */
void printBook( struct Books book );

int main( ) {

struct Books Book1; /* Declare Book1 of type Book */

struct Books Book2; /* Declare Book2 of type Book */

/* book 1 specification */
strcpy( Book1.title, "C Programming");
strcpy( Book1.author, "Nuha Ali");
strcpy( Book1.subject, "C Programming Tutorial");
Book1.book_id = 6495407;

/* book 2 specification */
strcpy( Book2.title, "Telecom Billing");
strcpy( Book2.author, "Zara Ali");
strcpy( Book2.subject, "Telecom Billing Tutorial");
Book2.book_id = 6495700;

/* print Book1 info */

printBook( Book1 );

/* Print Book2 info */

printBook( Book2 );
 return 0;
}

void printBook( struct Books book ) {

printf( "Book title : %s\n", book.title);

printf( "Book author : %s\n", book.author);
printf( "Book subject : %s\n", book.subject);
printf( "Book book_id : %d\n", book.book_id);
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following
result

Book title : C Programming

Book author : Nuha Ali
Book subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495407
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Zara Ali
Book subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495700

Pointers to Structures
You can define pointers to structures in the same way as you define pointer
to any other variable

struct Books *struct_pointer;

Now, you can store the address of a structure variable in the above defined
pointer variable. To find the address of a structure variable, place the '&';
operator before the structure's name as follows

struct_pointer = &Book1;

To access the members of a structure using a pointer to that structure, you

must use the operator as follows

struct_pointer->title;

Let us re-write the above example using structure pointer.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};

/* function declaration */
void printBook( struct Books *book );
int main( ) {

struct Books Book1; /* Declare Book1 of type Book */

struct Books Book2; /* Declare Book2 of type Book */

/* book 1 specification */
strcpy( Book1.title, "C Programming");
strcpy( Book1.author, "Nuha Ali");
strcpy( Book1.subject, "C Programming Tutorial");
Book1.book_id = 6495407;

/* book 2 specification */
strcpy( Book2.title, "Telecom Billing");
strcpy( Book2.author, "Zara Ali");
strcpy( Book2.subject, "Telecom Billing Tutorial");
Book2.book_id = 6495700;

/* print Book1 info by passing address of Book1 */

printBook( &Book1 );

/* print Book2 info by passing address of Book2 */

 printBook( &Book2 );

return 0;
}

void printBook( struct Books *book ) {

printf( "Book title : %s\n", book->title);

printf( "Book author : %s\n", book->author);
printf( "Book subject : %s\n", book->subject);
printf( "Book book_id : %d\n", book->book_id);
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following
result

Book title : C Programming

Book author : Nuha Ali
Book subject : C Programming Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495407
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Zara Ali
Book subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial
Book book_id : 6495700

Bit Fields
Bit Fields allow the packing of data in a structure. This is especially useful
when memory or data storage is at a premium. Typical examples include

Packing several objects into a machine word. e.g. 1 bit flags can be compacted.

Reading external file formats -- non-standard file formats could be read in, e.g.,
9-bit integers.

C allows us to do this in a structure definition by putting :bit length after the

variable. For example

struct packed_struct {
unsigned int f1:1;
unsigned int f2:1;
 unsigned int f3:1;
unsigned int f4:1;
unsigned int type:4;
unsigned int my_int:9;
} pack;

Here, the packed_struct contains 6 members: Four 1 bit flags f1..f3, a 4-bit
type and a 9-bit my_int.

C automatically packs the above bit fields as compactly as possible, provided

that the maximum length of the field is less than or equal to the integer word
length of the computer. If this is not the case, then some compilers may allow
memory overlap for the fields while others would store the next field in the
next word