Structure in C

---

PREV NEXT

Structure ?

• A structure is a user defined data type in C/C++.

• Structure is collections of items of different data types to store a particular type of record.

• Similar to array, for structure also contiguous memory space for all elements.

• Structure's elements are called member of structure.

Structures are used to represent a record, Suppose you want to keep track of your students in a college You might want to track the following attributes about each student:

� Roll Number
� Name
� Branch

Defining a Structure

To define a structure, you must use the struct keyword. The format of the struct statement is given below:

Syntax:

struct structure_name
 {
   data_type member1;
   data_type member2;
    .
    .
   data_type memeber;
 }[one or more structure variable];
                

Example :

struct student
 {
   int roll_no;
   char name[40];
   char branch[20];
 }; 

Note :
1. Don't forget to put the semicolon }; in the ending line.

Structure variable Declaration

Structure type of variable declaration is similar as you declare any other type of variable.
For the above structure of a student, variable can be declared as:

struct student
 {
   int roll_no;
   char name[40];
   char branch[20];
 }; 
int main()
  {
    struct student s1, s2;
    struct student *s3; //pointer type variable
    return 0;
  }

Another way of creating a structure variable is:

struct student
 {
   int roll_no;
   char name[40];
   char branch[20];
 }s1, s2; 

---

Accessing structure members :

To assign/access values to the members of structure you have to access the member of structure with the structure type variable;

There are two types of member operator that we use to access the member of structure
1. dot . ( period ) operator.
2. goes-to -> operator.

Points :

1. If the variable is simple type (not a pointer) then we use dot . operator to access the members of structure.
2. If the variable is pointer type then we use -> operator to access the members of structure.

Example :

#include<stdio.h>
struct distance
 {
   int km;
   float meter;
 };
 
int main(){
  struct distance d;
  struct distance *d1;
  d.km = 12;
  d.meter = .3;
	
  // for pointer type
  d1->km = 3;
  d1->meter = .6;
  return 0;
 }

---

Initialization of structure members :

Structure members cannot be initialized with structure definition.

struct Student
 {
   int roll_no = 123;      // COMPILE ERROR
   char name[40] = "Haziq";// COMPILE ERROR
 };   

Structure members can be initialized in the following ways:

struct student
 {
   int roll_no;
   char name[40];
   char branch[20];
 }; 
int main()
 {
   struct student s1 = {123,"Haziq","CSE"};
             //OR
   struct student s2;
   s2.roll_no = 124;
    
   return 0;
 }

Example :

Program to understand structure:
This program takes information of a student and show the details :

#include<stdio.h>
struct Student {
   int rn;
   char  name[30];
   char  br[20];
};

int main( ) {
  struct Student s1;
  printf("Enter Details : ");
  printf("ROLL NO : ");
  scanf("%d",&s1.rn);
  printf("NAME : ");
  fflush(stdin);
  gets(s1.name);
  printf("BRANCH  : ");
  gets(s1.br);

 printf("---------------\n");
 printf("ROLL NO: %d",s1.rn);
 printf("\nNAME: %s",s1.name);
 printf("\nBRANCH : %s",s1.br);
 printf("---------------\n");
 
  return 0;
}

Output :

Enter Details : ROLL NO : 123
NAME : Ayan Khan
BRANCH : CSE
-----------------
ROLL NO: 123
NAME: Ayan Khan
BRANCH :CS
-----------------

Structure Array :

You can also declare an array of structure. Each element of the array represents a structure type variable.

example : struct student s[10];

Example :

The below code define an array stu of size 5 elements. Each element of array stu is of type Student

#include<stdio.h>
struct Student {
   int rn;
   char  name[30];
   char  br[20];
};

int main( ) {
  struct Student stu[5];
  int i;
  printf("Enter Details : ");
  for(i=0;i<5;i++){
    printf("\nROLL NO : ");
    scanf("%d",&stu[i].rn);
    printf("NAME : ");
    fflush(stdin);
    gets(stu[i].name);
    printf("BRANCH  : ");
    gets(stu[i].br);
    printf("--------------");
  }
  printf("\n================");
  printf("\nDETAILS ARE :");
  for(i=0;i<5;i++){
    printf("\nROLL NO : %d",stu[i].rn);
    printf("\nNAME : %s",stu[i].name);
    printf("\nBRANCH  : %s",stu[i].br);
    printf("\n--------------");
  }
  printf("\n================");
  return 0;
}

Nested Structure:

Nested structure in C is nothing but structure within structure. One structure can be declared inside other structure as we declare structure members inside a structure.

struct Student {
  int rollno;
  char name[30]; 
  char branch[20];
 
  struct Address {
    int street;				
    int city;				
    int dist;				
  };
 
  struct Address add;
};

Self Reference Structure :

• Self referential structure in C is a structure that have a pointer variable that can point another structure of same type.

• A self referential data structure is essentially a structure definition which includes at least one member that is a pointer to the structure of its own kind.

Example :

struct Person{
  char name[30];
  struct Person *father;
  struct Person *mother;
};

Structure as function argument :

We can pass a structure as a function argument in similar way as we pass any other variable or array.

Example :

#include<stdio.h>
struct Student {
   int rn;
   char  name[30];
   char  br[20];
};

void show_details(struct Student s);

int main( ) {
  struct Student stu;
  int i;
  printf("Enter Details : ");
  printf("\nROLL NO : ");
  scanf("%d",&stu.rn);
  printf("NAME : ");
  fflush(stdin);
  gets(stu.name);
  printf("BRANCH  : ");
  gets(stu.br);
    
  show_details(stu);
  return 0;
}
void show_details(struct Student s)
{
 printf("\n--------------");
 printf("\nDETAILS IS :");
 printf("\nROLL NO : %d",s.rn);
 printf("\nNAME : %s",s.name);
 printf("\nBRANCH  : %s",s.br);
 printf("\n--------------");
}

Next topic is Union

PREV NEXT