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What is Structure
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.
Structure in c is a user-defined data type that enables us to store the collection of different data types. Each element of a structure is called a member. The ,struct keyword is used to define the structure. Let's see the syntax to define the structure in c.
Let's see the example to define a structure for an entity employee in c.
struct employee { int id; char name[20]; float salary; };
Here, struct is the keyword; employee is the name of the structure; id, name, and salary are the members or fields of the structure. Let's understand it by the diagram given below: 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 − struct Books { char title[50]; char author[50]; char subject[100]; int book_id; } book;
Declaring structure variable
We can declare a variable for the structure so that we can access the member of the structure easily. There are two ways to declare structure variable:
1. By struct keyword within main() function
2. By declaring a variable at the time of defining the structure. 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 −
Title Author Subject Book ID
Accessing Structure Members
There are two ways to access structure members:
1. By . (member or dot operator)
2. By -> (structure pointer operator)
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. We use the keyword struct to define variables of structure type. The following example shows how to use a structure in a program −
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result − Book 1 title : C Programming Book 1 author : Nuha Ali Book 1 subject : C Programming Tutorial Book 1 book_id : 6495407 Book 2 title : Telecom Billing Book 2 author : Zara Ali Book 2 subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial Book 2 book_id : 6495700
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>
void printBook( struct Books book ) //function defination
{
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 : Nuha Ali Book subject : C Programming Tutorial Book book_id : 6495407 Book title : Telecom Billing Book author : Zara Ali Book subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial Book book_id : 649570
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.
/* print Book1 info by passing address of Book1 */
printBook( &Book1 );
/* print Book2 info by passing address of Book2 */
printBook( &Book2 );
return 0; }
void printBook( struct Books *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 : Nuha Ali Book subject : C Programming Tutorial Book book_id : 6495407 Book title : Telecom Billing Book author : Zara Ali Book subject : Telecom Billing Tutorial Book book_id : 6495700
