Structures in C

Introduction
• In C Programming, Arrays are helpful to store a group of similar data
type elements.
• But, there are some situations where we have to group non-similar
data types (int, float, char, etc.).
• To handle these type situations C programming introduced the
concept of Structures.
• Structures in C are used to group different data types to organize the
data in a structural way.
• struct keyword is used to create structures in C programming.
• For example, we are storing employee details such as name, id, age,
address, and salary.
• From the names, you can understand that they are not the same data
type.
• Normally we create a separate variable for the name, id, address,
age, and salary, but how about storing the same for 5 employees? It
will be difficult for the developer to assign the variable names to
each.
• So, We create a C structure to handle this using struct yeyword and
assign the name as an employee.
Structures in C Syntax
• The basic syntax of the C structures using struct is as shown below
struct Structure_Name
{
Data_Type Variable_Name;

Data_Type Variable_Name;
………….
};
• The struct is the system reserved keyword used to create structures
and to access structures.
• Structure_Name: Name you desire to give the structure. For ex,
employees, person, students
• Data_Type: Data type of the declared variable. For example, int, float,
char.
• Variable_Name – For example, id, name, age, salary.
struct Example

struct Employee // Structure Name = Employee

{
int age; //Data_Type = int; Variable Name = age

char name[50]; //Data Type = char Array; Variable_Name = name

float salary; //Data Type = float; Variable Name = salary

};
Declaration of Structures in C Programming
• Members inside the structures will not store any memory location
until they are associated with structure variables.
• So, we have to create the structure variable before using it.
• We can declare the C structure variables in multiple ways.
First Approach to create Structure
• Declaring the structure first and then in the main function creating
the structure variable
struct Employee
{
int age;
char name[50];
float salary;
};
//Creating the Structure variable in main() function
struct Employee emp1, emp2;
emp1 = {25, “Dave”, 25000};

NB: Emp1 and emp2 = variables of struct data type.

Second Approach to create Structure
• We are creating the structure variables at the time of the C structure
declaration.
struct Employee
{
int age;
char name[50];
float salary;
} emp1, emp2;
Accessing Structure Members
• We can locate the structure members using the dot (.) operator or
members operator.
Let us use the above struct example.
//Assigning the values
emp2.age = 26;
strcpy (emp2.name, “Michel”);
emp2.salary = 46000.50;
Example
• In this structure example program, we are going to declare the
structure with 5 data members. Next, we will display each structure
item as output.
• Example
Details of the Employee1
Employee Id = 101
Employee Age = 25
Employee Name = Dave
Employee Department = IT
Employee Salary = 25000.50

Details of the Employee2

Employee Id = 102
Employee Age = 28
Employee Name = Christofer
Employee Department = Science
Employee Salary = 32000.70
Nested Structures in C Programming
• In our previous post, we discussed Structures, and they are pretty
good to group different data type members.
• However, there are some problems, such as listing more number of
variables inside the structure and Code repetitiveness.
• For example, assume we are working with Employee, Student, and
Person data.
• So, we will need to declare 3 structures, i.e., Employee, Student, and
Person.
• Each structure may have different members (Ex: For Student
structure: Roll Number, Class Number, Marks, etc.).
• But there may be some common members such as Age, door number
or street name, city.
• In general, adding door number, street name, city members to all the
three structures means repetitive work!.
• To resolve these situations, C Programming allows us to use Nested
structures.
• Like Loops, Nested structures in C are the Structures inside the
Structure.
• Using this, we can create one structure called address and add door
number, street name, city members under it.
• Now, we can call this address structure from the Employee, Student,
and Person structures.
• We can declare the C nested structure in multiple ways:
First Approach for Nested Structures
• First, declaring the address structure, and then creating the address
variable inside the Employee structure.
• Declaring the address Structure
Here, declaring the Employee Structure
struct Employee
{
int age;
char Name[50];
char Department[20];
struct address add; // creating the address variable = add
float salary;
};
Second Approach for Nested Structures
struct Employee //// Declaring the Employee structure
{
int age;
char Name[50];
char Department[20];
float salary;
struct address // Declaring the address structure
{
int Door_Number;
char Street_Name[20];
char City[20];
int Postcode;
} add; // creating the address variable = add
};
Example
• In this C nested structures Program, We are going to declare Nested
structures (structure inside the structure).
• Then we are going to display them in two ways:
• Creating Structure Variable and assign the corresponding values to
them (Normal Variable).
• Creating Structure Pointer Variable and assign the corresponding
values to them (Pointer Variable)
• Program
Points to Remember in C Nested Structures
• To print the structure variable, we have to use the dot operator (.)
• To print the C nested structure variable, we have to use two dot
operators such as (Structure Variable. Nested Structure Variable.
Structure Member)
• printing the structure pointer variable, we have to use an arrow
operator instead of the dot operator. (Structure Variable -> Structure
Member)
• To print the nested structure variable using pointers, we have to use
a combination of the arrow operator and dot operator. (Structure
Variable -> Nested Structure Variable. Structure Member)
Structures and Functions in C
• The C Programming allows us to pass the structures as the function
parameters.
• We can pass the C structures to functions in 3 ways:
i. Passing each item of the structure as a function argument. It is similar
to passing normal values as arguments. Although it is easy to
implement, we don’t use this approach because if the size of a
structure is a bit larger, then our life becomes miserable.
ii.Pass the whole structure as a value.
iii.We can also Pass the address of the structure (pass by reference).
Pass Structure to a Function By Value
• If the structure is passed to the function by the value, then Changes
made to the structure variable members within the function will not
reflect the original structure members.
• This program for Structures and Functions in C, User is asked to enter,
Student Name, First Year Marks, and Second Year Marks.
• By using these values, this program will check whether the student is
eligible for a scholarship or not.
• Please refer Call By Value and Call By Reference to the Functions post
to know the difference between pass by value and pass by reference.
• Here, we are going to discuss the second and third approaches