Structure:

Structure is a user-defined datatype in C language which allows us to combine data of different types
together.

Structure helps to construct a complex data type which is more meaningful. It is somewhat similar to
an Array, but an array holds data of similar type only. But structure on the other hand, can store
data of any type, which is practical more useful.

For example: If I have to write a program to store Student information, which will have Student's
name, age, branch, permanent address, father's name etc, which included string values, integer
values etc, how can I use arrays for this problem, I will require something which can hold data of
different types together.

In structure, data is stored in form of records.

Defining a structure
struct keyword is used to define a structure. struct defines a new data type which is a collection of
primary and derived data types.

Syntax:

struct structure_tag

Datatype member_variable_1;

Datatype member_variable_2;

Datatype member_variable_3;

...

}structure_variables;

Explanation:

As you can see in the syntax above, we start with the struct keyword, then it's optional to provide
your structure a name, we suggest you to give it a name, then inside the curly braces, we have to
mention all the member variables, which are nothing but normal C language variables of different
types like int, float, array etc.

After the closing curly brace, we can specify one or more structure variables, again this is optional.
Note: The closing curly brace in the structure type declaration must be followed by a semicolon(;).

Example of Structure definition:

struct Student

char name[25];

int age;

char branch[10];

// F for female and M for male

char gender;

};

Explanation: Here struct Student declares a structure to hold the details of a student which consists
of 4 data fields, namely name, age, branch and gender. These fields are called structure elements or
members.

Each member can have different datatype, like in this case, name is an array of char type and age is
of int type etc. Student is the name of the structure and is called as the structure tag.

Declaring Structure Variables:

It is possible to declare variables of a structure, either along with structure definition or after the
structure is defined. Structure variable declaration is similar to the declaration of any normal
variable of any other datatype. Structure variables can be declared in following two ways:

1) Declaring Structure variables separately

struct Student
{
char name[25];
int age;
char branch[10];
//F for female and M for male
char gender;
};
struct Student S1, S2; //declaring variables of struct Student
2) Declaring Structure variables with structure definition

struct Student
{
char name[25];
int age;
char branch[10];
//F for female and M for male
char gender;
}S1, S2;

Here S1 and S2 are variables of structure Student. However, this approach is not much
recommended.

Accessing Structure Members

Structure members have no meaning individually without the structure.

In order to assign a value to any structure member, the member name must be linked with the
structure variable using a dot . operator also called period or member access operator.

For example:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
struct Student //structure definition
{
char name[25];
int age;
char branch[10];
char gender[1];
};
int main()
{
struct Student s1; //structure variable declaration
s1.age = 18;
strcpy(s1.name, "Viraaj");
strcpy(s1.branch, "ECE");
strcpy(s1.gender, "M");
printf("Name of Student 1: %s\n", s1.name);
printf("Age of Student 1: %d\n", s1.age);
printf("branch of Student 1: %s\n", s1.branch);
printf("gender of Student 1: %s\n", s1.gender);
 return 0;
}
Output:

Name of Student 1: Viraaj

Age of Student 1: 18

branch of Student 1: ECE

gender of Student 1: M

Structure Initialization:
Like a variable of any other datatype, structure variable can also be initialized at compile time.

struct Patient
{
float height;
int weight;
int age;
};
struct Patient p1 = { 180.75 , 73, 23 }; //initialization

OR

struct Patient p1;

p1.height = 180.75; //initialization of each member separately

p1.weight = 73;

p1.age = 23;

Array of Structure:
We can also declare an array of structure variables. in which each element of the array will represent
a structure variable.

Example : struct employee emp[5];

The below program defines an array emp of size 5. Each element of the array emp is of type
Employee.
#include<stdio.h>
struct Employee
{
char ename[10];
int sal;
};
struct Employee emp[5];
int i, j;
void enter_empdetail()
{
for(i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
printf("\nEnter %dst Employee record:\n", i+1);
printf("\nEmployee name:\t");
scanf("%s", emp[i].ename);
printf("\nEnter Salary:\t");
scanf("%d", &emp[i].sal);
}
printf("\nDisplaying Employee record:\n");
for(i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
printf("\nEmployee name is %s", emp[i].ename);
printf("\nSalary is %d", emp[i].sal);
}
}
void main()
{
enter_empdetail();
}

Output:
Enter 1st Employee record:

Employee name: manoj

Enter Salary: 100

Enter 2st Employee record:

Employee name: mahesh

Enter Salary: 200

Enter 3st Employee record:

Employee name: satish

Displaying Employee record:

Employee name is manoj

...Program finished with exit code 0