In C, structures is a user defined datatype. It is used to create a group of items of different datatypes into a single type.
Defining a Structure
We use ‘struct’ keyword create a structure which defines a new datatype having more than one member.
Syntax:
struct [structure tag] {
member definition;
member definition;
...
member definition;
} [one or more structure variables];
Example:
struct address {char name/building.no,[50];char street[80];char city[30];char state[20];int pin_id;} |
Accessing Structure Members
We use the dot operator (.) to access members of a structure.
#include<stdio.h> struct Point{int a, b;}; int main(){struct Point p1 = {0, 1}; // Accessing members of point p1p1.a = 20;printf ("a = %d, b = %d", p1.a, p1.b);return 0;} |
Output:
a = 20, b = 1
Array of structures
We can create an array of structures just like other primitive data types.
#include<stdio.h> struct Point{int a, b;}; int main(){// Create an array of structuresstruct Point arr[10]; // Access array membersarr[0].a = 20;arr[0].b = 30; printf("%d %d", arr[0].a, arr[0].b);return 0;} |
Output:
20 30
Structures as Function Arguments
We can pass a structure as a function argument similar to the way any other variable or pointer is passed.
#include <stdio.h>
struct student {
char name[50];
int age;
};
// function prototype
void display(struct student s);
int main() {
struct student s1;
printf("Enter name: ");
// read string input from the user until \n is entered
// \n is discarded
scanf("%[^\n]%*c", s1.name);
printf("Enter age: ");
scanf("%d", &s1.age);
display(s1); // passing struct as an argument
return 0;
}
void display(struct student s)
{
printf("\nDisplaying information\n");
printf("Name: %s", s.name);
printf("\nAge: %d", s.age);
}
Output
Enter name: Saakshi Enter age: 20 Displaying information Name: Saakshi Age: 20
Struct variable s1 of type struct student is created. The s1 variable is passed to the display() function.
