Chapter 9

Records (structs)

C++ Programming: Program Design Including Data Structures, Eighth Edition

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 Objectives (1 of 2)

• In this chapter, you will:

• Learn about records (structs)
• Examine various operations on a struct
• Explore ways to manipulate data using a struct
• Learn about the relationship between a struct and functions
• Examine the difference between arrays and structs

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 Objectives (2 of 2)

• Discover how arrays are used in a struct

• Learn how to create an array of struct items
• Learn how to create structs within a structs

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 Records (structs) (1 of 3)

• struct: a collection of a fixed number of components in which the

components are accessed by name
• The components may be of different types and are called the members of the
struct
• Syntax

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 Records (structs) (2 of 3)

• A struct is a definition, not a declaration

• Must declare a variable of that type to use it

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 Records (structs) (3 of 3)

FIGURE 9-1 struct newHouse

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 Accessing struct Members (1 of 2)

• Syntax to access a struct member:

• The dot (.) is called the member access operator

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 Accessing struct Members (2 of 2)

• To initialize the members of newStudent:

newStudent.GPA = 0.0;
newStudent.firstName = "John";
newStudent.lastName = "Brown";

FIGURE 9-2 struct newStudent

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 Assignment (1 of 2)

• Value of one struct variable can be assigned to another struct variable of

the same type using an assignment statement
• The statement:
student = newStudent;
copies the contents of newStudent into student

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 Assignment (2 of 2)

• The assignment statement:

student = newStudent;
• is equivalent to the following statements:
student.firstName = newStudent.firstName;
student.lastName = newStudent.lastName;
student.courseGrade = newStudent.courseGrade;
student.testScore = newStudent.testScore;
student.programmingScore = newStudent.programmingScore;
student.GPA = newStudent.GPA;

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 Comparison (Relational Operators)

• Compare struct variables member-wise

• No aggregate relational operations are allowed
• To compare the values of student and newStudent:

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 Input/Output

• No aggregate input/output operations are allowed on a struct variable

• Data in a struct variable must be read or written one member at a time
• The following code would output newStudent contents:

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 struct Variables and Functions

• A struct variable can be passed as a parameter by value or by reference

• A function can return a value of type struct
• The following function displays the contents a struct variable of type
studentType:

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 Arrays versus structs

TABLE 9-1 Arrays vs. structs

Data Type Array struct

Arithmetic No No
Assignment No Yes
Input/output No (except strings) No
Comparison No No
Parameter passing By reference only By value or by reference
Function returning a value No Yes

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 Arrays in structs (1 of 3)

• Two items are associated with a list:

• Values (elements)
• Length of the list
• Define a struct containing both items:

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 Arrays in structs (2 of 3)

FIGURE 9-5 struct variable intList

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 Arrays in structs (3 of 3)

• Consider these statements and refer to the figure below showing the results
following execution of the statements:

FIGURE 9-6 intList after the statements in Lines 1 through 5 execute

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 structs in Arrays (1 of 2)

• Example

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 structs in Arrays (2 of 2)

employeeType employees[50]
• Declares the array employees of 50 components of type employeeType

FIGURE 9-7 Array of employees

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 structs within a struct

FIGURE 9-8 struct variable newEmployee

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 Quick Review (1 of 2)

• A struct is a collection of a fixed number of components

• Components of a struct can be of different types
• Called members
• Accessed by name
• struct is a reserved word
• No memory is allocated for a struct
• Memory is allocated only when variables are declared

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 Quick Review (2 of 2)

• In C++, the dot (.) operator is called the member access operator
• Used to access members of a struct
• The only built-in operations on a struct are the assignment and member
access operations
• Neither arithmetic nor relational operations are allowed on structs
• A struct can be passed by value or reference
• A function can return a value of type struct
• A struct can be a member of another struct

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