Structures

in C Programming
ESC 151
Sunnie Chung
Data Structures: Struct
• A Structure is a collection of related data items, possibly of different
types.
• A structure type in C/C++ is called Struct.
• A Struct is heterogeneous in that it can be composed of data of
different types.
• In contrast, array is homogeneous since it can contain only data of the
same type.

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Data Structures: Structs
• Arrays require that all elements be of the same data type.
• Many times it is necessary to group information of different data
types.
• An example is a materials list for a product. The list typically includes
a name for each item, a part number, dimensions, weight, and cost.
• C and C++ support data structures that can store combinations of
character, integer floating point and enumerated type data. They are
called a structs.

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Structures
• Structures hold data that belong together.
• Examples:
• Student record: id, name, major, gender, start year, gpa
• Bank account: account number, name, currency, balance
• Address book: name, address, telephone number
• In database applications, structures are called records.

4
Different types of data in each row structure
in Table Employee
Employee

ID Name DeptID Salary Project

10 Nemo 12 22000 Company Picnic
20 Dory 156 79000 Big data Project
40 Gill 89 76000 Factory Sensor
Project
52 Ray 34 85000 Cloud Project
… … … … …
Structures: struct
• A struct is a derived data type composed of members that are each
primitive or derived data types.
• A single struct would store the data for one object.
• An array of structs would store the data for several objects.
• A struct can be defined in several ways as illustrated in the following
examples:

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Declaring Structures (struct)
struct)
Does Not Reserve Memory Space Reserves Memory Space
struct my_example
{ struct my_example
int label; {
char letter; int label;
char name[20]; char letter;
}; char name[20];
/* The name "my_example" is called a } mystruct ;
structure tag */ /*Declaring a struct variable mystruct*/
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User Defined Data Types (typedef
(typedef)
typedef)
• The C language provides a facility called typedef for creating synonyms for
previously defined data type names. For example, the declaration:

typedef int Length;

makes the name Length a synonym (or alias) for the data type int.
• The data “type” name Length can now be used in declarations in exactly
the same way that the data type int can be used:

Length a, b, len ;
Length numbers[10] ;
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Declaring with Typedef & Struct : better way
• Often, typedef is used in combination with struct to declare a synonym (or
an alias) for a structure:

typedef struct /* Define a structure */

{
int label ;
char letter;
char name[20] ;
} Some_name ; /* The "alias" Some_name is the name of struct type*/

Some_name mystruct ; /* Declare a struct type variable mystruct */

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Accessing Struct Members
• Individual members of a struct variable may be accessed using the structure
member operator (the “.” dot):
mystruct.label = 1011;
mystruct.letter = ‘A’ ;
strcpy(mystruct.name, "Mark");
• Or if a pointer to the struct has been declared and initialized
Some_name *myptr = &mystruct ;
by using the structure pointer operator (the “->“):
myptr -> letter ;
which could also be written as:
(*myptr).letter ;
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Initializing Struct
struct personal //Create a struct but don’t reserve memory space.
{
long id;
double gpa;
};
typedef struct //Create another struct that includes the first struct. No memory allocated yet
{
char name[30];
struct personal person;
}Student;
Student js = { "Joe Smith", { 0, 0.0 } };
strcpy(js.name, "Mark Smith");
js.person.id = 123456789;
js.person.gpa = 3.4;

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Initializing Struct
Student js = {"Joe Smith"}; //memory for Student type js allocated here
Student *jsptr = &js ; // pointer to Strudent type is allocated and
// initialized to the address of js
js.person.id = 123456789 ;
js.person.gpa = 3.4 ;
printf ("%s %ld %f\n", js.name, js.person.id, js.person.gpa) ;
printf ("%s %ld %f\n", jsptr->name, jsptr->person.id,
jsptr->person.gpa) ;

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Initializing Array of Struct
Studentlist[2];
//get the first student info
strcpy_s(list[0].name, _countof(list[0].name), "Mark Juckerberg");
list[0].person.id = 111111111;
list[0].person.gpa = 3.0;

// print array of struct

int j;
int count;
for(j = 0; j < count; j++) {
printf("%s %ld %f\n", list[j].name, list[j].person.id, list[j].person.gpa);
}

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How to Pass Struct to a Function
struct inventory{
int nPartNo;
float fBuyCost;
float fSellingPrice;
};
-- Function Prototypes
struct inventory ReadPart(void);
void PrintPart(struct inventory part);
-- in main () to call the Functions
struct inventory items;
// call ReadPart() function, assigns returned structure to items
items = ReadPart();
// then, call PrintPart() function, passing items structure
PrintPart(items);

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How to Pass Struct to a Function
-- Function Prototypes
void Print_Student_withStruct(Student s);
void Print_Student_withPointer(Student* ptr);
void Print_All_Students(Student List[], int number);

-- in main () to call the Functions

Student js = { "Joe Smith", { 111111111, 3.0 } };
Student *jsptr = &js; //Declaring a pointer to Struct variable js
Print_Student_withStruct(js);
Print_Student_withPointer(jsptr);
Student allstudents[2]; //Declaring Array of Struct variable
int count = 2;
Print_All_Students(allstudents, count);
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Sample Program with Structs
/* This program illustrates creating structs and then declaring and using struct variables. *
* Note that struct personal is an included data type in struct “Student". */

struct personal //Create a struct but don’t reserve memory space.

{
long id;
double gpa;
};
typedef struct //Create a second struct that includes the first struct. No memory allocated yet
{
char name[30];
struct personal person;
}Student;

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Sample Program with Structs (cont.)
int main ( )
{
struct identity js = {"Joe Smith"}; //memory for struct allocated here
struct identity *jsptr = &js ;

js.person.id = 123456789 ;
js.person.gpa = 3.4 ;
printf ("%s %ld %f\n", js.name, js.person.id, js.person.gpa) ;
printf ("%s %ld %f\n", jsptr->name, jsptr->person.id, jsptr->person.gpa) ;
}

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 Sample Program with Structs (cont.)
int main ( )
{
Print_Student_withStruct(js);
Print_Student_withPointer(jsptr);
Studentallstudents[2];
int count = 2;
//First Student Info
strcpy_s(allstudents[0].name, _countof(allstudents[0].name), "Mark Juckerberg");
allstudents[0].person.id = 111111111;
allstudents[0].person.gpa = 3.0;
//Second Student Info
strcpy_s(allstudents[1].name, _countof(allstudents[1].name), "Sunnie Chung");
allstudents[1].person.id = 222222222;
allstudents[1].person.gpa = 3.5;
Print_All_Students(allstudents, count);
return 0;
}
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 Sample Program with Structs (cont.)
void Print_Student_withStruct(Student s){
printf("\n\n******* Printing Student From Function with Struct******************** \n ");
printf("%s %ld %f\n", s.name, s.person.id, s.person.gpa);
}
void Print_Student_withPointer(Student* sptr){
printf("\n\n******* Printing Student From Function with Pointer of Struct********** \n ");
printf("%s %ld %f\n", sptr->name, sptr->person.id, sptr->person.gpa);
}
void Print_All_Students(Student List[], int scount){
int j;
printf("\n***** Printing All the Students **************\n");
for(j = 0; j < scount; j++) {
printf("%s %ld %f\n", List[j].name, List[j].person.id, List[j].person.gpa);
}
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Structs with Union
• The program on the next 3 slides creates a union and makes it a
member of struct personal which is, in turn, a member of struct
identity.
• The union uses the same memory location for either rank or a
character string (deg) depending on the answer to the prompt for
student status in main( ).

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Structs with Union (cont.)
#include <stdio.h> union status level ;
union status };
{
int rank ; struct identity
char deg[4] ; {
}; char name[30] ;
struct personal struct personal student ;
{ };
long id ;
float gpa ;

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Structs with Union (cont.)
int main( )
{ struct identity jb = {"Joe Brown"}, *ptr = &jb;
char u_g;
jb.student.id = 123456789 ;
jb.student.gpa = 3.4 ;
printf ("Enter student status - u or g\n");
scanf ("%c", &u_g);
if (u_g == 'u')
{ printf ("Enter rank -- 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5\n");
scanf ("%d", &jb.student.level.rank);
printf ("%s is level %d\n” , jb.name ,
jb.student.level.rank);
} /* End of if statement */

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Structs with Union (cont.)
else
{ printf ("Enter degree sought -- ms or phd\n");
scanf ("%s", &jb.student.level.deg);
printf ("%s is a %s candidate\n”,
jb.name , jb.student.level.deg );
} /* End of else statement */
printf ("%s %ld %f\n” , jb.name , jb.student.id ,
jb.student.gpa );
printf ("%s%ld %f\n” , ptr->name , ptr->student.id ,
ptr->student.gpa );
} /* End of program */

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Enumeration
• Enumeration is a user-defined data type. It is defined using the keyword enum and the
syntax is:
enum tag_name {name_0, …, name_n} ;

• The tag_name is not used directly. The names in the braces are symbolic constants that
take on integer values from zero through n. As an example, the statement:
enum colors { red, yellow, green } ;
• creates three constants. red is assigned the value 0, yellow is assigned 1 and green is
assigned 2.

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Enumeration
/* This program uses enumerated data types to
access the elements of an array */
#include <stdio.h>
int main( )
{
int March[5][7]={{0,0,1,2,3,4,5},{6,7,8,9,10,11,12},
{13,14,15,16,17,18,19},{20,21,22,23,24,25,26},
{27,28,29,30,31,0,0}};
enum days {Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday};

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Enumeration
enum week {week_one, week_two, week_three,
week_four, week_five};

printf ("Monday the third week "

"of March is March %d\n",
March [week_three] [Monday] );
}

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