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 −
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 −
struct[structure tag]{
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 −
structBooks{
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
} book;
Accessing Structure Members
To access any member of a structure, we use the member access operator (.). The member access operator is coded as a period between the structure variable name and the structure member that we wish to access. You would use the keyword struct to define variables of structure type. The following example shows how to use a structure in a program −
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
structBooks{
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};
int main(){
structBooksBook1;/* Declare Book1 of type Book */
structBooksBook2;/* Declare Book2 of type Book */
/* book 1 specification */
strcpy(Book1.title,"C Programming");
strcpy(Book1.author,"Vishwa Prabhu");
strcpy(Book1.subject,"C Programming Softecks");
Book1.book_id =123456;
/* book 2 specification */
strcpy(Book2.title,"Telecom Billing");
strcpy(Book2.author,"Akshay Kumar");
strcpy(Book2.subject,"Telecom Billing Softecks");
Book2.book_id =654321;
/* print Book1 info */
printf("Book 1 title : %s\n",Book1.title);
printf("Book 1 author : %s\n",Book1.author);
printf("Book 1 subject : %s\n",Book1.subject);
printf("Book 1 book_id : %d\n",Book1.book_id);
/* print Book2 info */
printf("Book 2 title : %s\n",Book2.title);
printf("Book 2 author : %s\n",Book2.author);
printf("Book 2 subject : %s\n",Book2.subject);
printf("Book 2 book_id : %d\n",Book2.book_id);
return0;
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Book 1 title : C Programming
Book 1 author : Vishwa Prabhu
Book 1 subject : C Programming Softecks
Book 1 book_id : 123456
Book 2 title : Telecom Billing
Book 2 author : Akshay Kumar
Book 2 subject : Telecom Billing Softecks
Book 2 book_id : 654321
Structures as Function Arguments
You can pass a structure as a function argument in the same way as you pass any other variable or pointer.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
structBooks{
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};
/* function declaration */
void printBook(structBooks book );
int main(){
structBooksBook1;/* Declare Book1 of type Book */
structBooksBook2;/* Declare Book2 of type Book */
/* book 1 specification */
strcpy(Book1.title,"C Programming");
strcpy(Book1.author,"Vishwa Prabhu");
strcpy(Book1.subject,"C Programming Softecks");
Book1.book_id =123456;
/* book 2 specification */
strcpy(Book2.title,"Telecom Billing");
strcpy(Book2.author,"Akshay Kumar");
strcpy(Book2.subject,"Telecom Billing Softecks");
Book2.book_id =654321;
/* print Book1 info */
printBook(Book1);
/* Print Book2 info */
printBook(Book2);
return0;
}
void printBook(structBooks book ){
printf("Book title : %s\n", book.title);
printf("Book author : %s\n", book.author);
printf("Book subject : %s\n", book.subject);
printf("Book book_id : %d\n", book.book_id);
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Book title : C Programming
Book author : Vishwa Prabhu
Book subject : C Programming Softecks
Book book_id : 123456
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Akshay Kumar
Book subject : Telecom Billing Softecks
Book book_id : 654321
Pointers to Structures
You can define pointers to structures in the same way as you define pointer to any other variable −
struct Books *struct_pointer;
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;
Let us re-write the above example using structure pointer.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
structBooks{
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};
/* function declaration */
void printBook(structBooks*book );
int main(){
structBooksBook1;/* Declare Book1 of type Book */
structBooksBook2;/* Declare Book2 of type Book */
/* book 1 specification */
strcpy(Book1.title,"C Programming");
strcpy(Book1.author,"Vishwa Prabhu");
strcpy(Book1.subject,"C Programming Softecks");
Book1.book_id =123456;
/* book 2 specification */
strcpy(Book2.title,"Telecom Billing");
strcpy(Book2.author,"Akshay Kumar");
strcpy(Book2.subject,"Telecom Billing Softecks");
Book2.book_id =654321;
/* print Book1 info by passing address of Book1 */
printBook(&Book1);
/* print Book2 info by passing address of Book2 */
printBook(&Book2);
return0;
}
void printBook(structBooks*book ){
printf("Book title : %s\n", book->title);
printf("Book author : %s\n", book->author);
printf("Book subject : %s\n", book->subject);
printf("Book book_id : %d\n", book->book_id);
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Book title : C Programming
Book author : Vishwa Prabhu
Book subject : C Programming Softecks
Book book_id : 123456
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Akshay Kumar
Book subject : Telecom Billing Softecks
Book book_id : 654321
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 {
unsignedint f1:1;
unsignedint f2:1;
unsignedint f3:1;
unsignedint f4:1;
unsignedint type:4;
unsignedint 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.
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.