C - Structures
C - Structures
C - Structures
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 −
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;
Live Demo
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#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};
int main( ) {
/* 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;
return 0;
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
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Live Demo
#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( ) {
/* 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;
return 0;
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
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Pointers to Structures
You can define pointers to structures in the same way as you define pointer to any other variable −
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;
Live Demo
#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( ) {
/* 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 */
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return 0;
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
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.
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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.
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