Structure

Dr. Suguna M
Assistant Professor Senior Grade ,
School of Computer Science and Engineering,
Vellore Institute of Technology,
Data Types
 Data types are defined as the data storage format that a variable can store a data.

Data types in C

Primary Data type

Secondary Data type
(int, float, char)

Derived Data type User defined Data type

(array, pointer) (structure, union, enum)

 C language has built-in datatypes like primary and derived data types.
 But, still not all real world problems can be solved using those data types.
 We need custom datatype for different situation.
User Defined Datatype
 We need combination of various datatypes to understand different entity/object.
 Example-1:
 Book Title: Let Us C Datatype: char / string
Author: Yashavant Kanetkar Datatype: char / string
Page: 320 Datatype: int
Price: 255.00 Datatype: float
 Example-2:
 Student Name: ABC Datatype: char / string
Roll_No: 180540107001 Datatype: int
CPI: 7.46 Datatype: float
Backlog: 01 Datatype: int
What is Structure?
 Structure is a collection of logically related data items of different datatypes
grouped together under single name.
 Structure is a user defined datatype.
 Structure helps to build a complex datatype which is more meaningful than an
array.
 But, an array holds similar datatype record, when structure holds different
datatypes records.
 Two fundamental aspects of Structure:
 Declaration of Structure Variable
 Accessing of Structure Member
Syntax to Define Structure
 To define a structure, we need to use struct keyword.
 This keyword is reserved word in C language. We can only use it for structure and
its object declaration.
Syntax
1 struct structure_name structure_name is name of custom type
2 {
3 member1_declaration;
4 member2_declaration;
5 . . .
memberN_declaration is individual
member
6 memberN_declaration;
declaration
7 };

 Members can be normal variables, pointers, arrays or other structures.

 Member names within the particular structure must be distinct from one another.
Example to Define Structure
Example
1 struct student
2 {
3 char name[30]; // Student Name
4 int roll_no; // Student Roll No
5 float CPI; // Student CPI
6 int backlog; // Student Backlog
7 };

 You must terminate structure definition with semicolon ;.

 You cannot assign value to members inside the structure definition, it will cause
compilation error.
Example
1 struct student
2 {
3 char name[30] = “ABC”; // Student Name
4 . . .
5 };
Create Structure variable
 A data type defines various properties about data stored in memory.
 To use any type we must declare its variable.
 Hence, let us learn how to create our custom structure type objects also known
as structure variable.
 In C programming, there are two ways to declare a structure variable:
1. Along with structure definition
2. After structure definition
Create Structure Variable – Cont.
1. Declaration along with the structure definition
Syntax Example
1 struct structure_name 1 struct student
2 { 2 {
3 member1_declaration; 3 char name[30]; // Student Name
4 member2_declaration; 4 int roll_no; // Student Roll No
5 . . . 5 float CPI; // Student CPI
6 memberN_declaration; 6 int backlog; // Student Backlog
7 } structure_variable; 7 } student1;
Create Structure Variable – Cont.
2. Declaration after Structure definition
Syntax
1 struct structure_name structure_variable;

Example
1 struct student
2 {
3 char name[30]; // Student Name
4 int roll_no; // Student Roll No
5 float CPI; // Student CPI
6 int backlog; // Student Backlog
7 };
8 struct student student1; // Declare structure variable
Access Structure member (data)
 Structure is a complex data type, we cannot assign any value directly to it
using assignment operator.
 We must assign data to individual structure members separately.
 C supports two operators to access structure members, using a structure variable.
1. Dot/period operator (.)
2. Arrow operator (->)
Access Structure member (data) – Cont.
1. Dot/period operator (.)
 It is known as member access operator. We use dot operator to access members of simple
structure variable.

Syntax Example
1 structure_variable.member_name; 1 // Assign CPI of student1
2 student1.CPI = 7.46;
2. Arrow operator (->)
 In C language it is illegal to access a structure member from a pointer to structure variable
using dot operator.
 We use arrow operator to access structure member from pointer to structure.

Syntax Example
1 pointer_to_structure->member_name; 1 // Student1 is a pointer to student type
2 student1 -> CPI = 7.46;
 Write a program to read and display student information using structure.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program Output
1 #include <stdio.h> Enter Student Name:aaa
2 struct student
Enter Student Roll Number:111
3 {
4 char name[40]; // Student name Enter Student CPI:7.89
5 int roll; // Student enrollment Enter Student Backlog:0
6 float CPI; // Student mobile number
7 int backlog; Student using simple structure variable.
8 };
9 int main()
Student name: aaa
10 { Student Enrollment: 111
11 struct student student1; // Simple structure variable Student CPI: 7.890000
12 // Input data in structure members using dot operator Student Backlog: 0
13 printf("Enter Student Name:");
14 scanf("%s", student1.name);
15 printf("Enter Student Roll Number:");
16 scanf("%d", &student1.roll);
17 printf("Enter Student CPI:");
18 scanf("%f", &student1.CPI);
19 printf("Enter Student Backlog:");
20 scanf("%d", &student1.backlog);
21 // Display data in structure members using dot operator
22 printf("\nStudent using simple structure variable.\n");
23 printf("Student name: %s\n", student1.name);
24 printf("Student Enrollment: %d\n", student1.roll);
25 printf("Student CPI: %f\n", student1.CPI);
26 printf("Student Backlog: %i\n", student1.backlog);
27 }
 Write a program to declare time structure and read two different time period and display sum of it.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program
1 #include<stdio.h> 27 scanf ("%d",&t2.seconds);
2 struct time { 28 printf ("The Time is %d:%d:
3 int hours; 29 %d",t2.hours,t2.minutes,t2.seconds);
4 int minutes; 30 h = t1.hours + t2.hours;
5 int seconds; 31 m = t1.minutes + t2.minutes;
6 }; 32 s = t1.seconds + t2.seconds;
7 int main() { 33 printf ("\nSum of the two time's is
8 struct time t1,t2; 34 %d:%d:%d",h,m,s);
9 int h, m, s; 35 return 0;
10 //1st time 36 }
11 printf ("Enter 1st time."); 37
12 printf ("\nEnter Hours: ");
13 scanf ("%d",&t1.hours);
14 printf ("Enter Minutes: "); Output
15 scanf ("%d",&t1.minutes); Enter 1st time.
16 printf ("Enter Seconds: "); Enter Hours: 1
17 scanf ("%d",&t1.seconds); Enter Minutes: 20
18 printf ("The Time is %d:%d: Enter Seconds: 20
19 %d",t1.hours,t1.minutes,t1.seconds); The Time is 1:20:20
20 //2nd time
21 printf ("\n\nEnter the 2nd time."); Enter the 2nd time.
22 printf ("\nEnter Hours: "); Enter Hours: 2
23 scanf ("%d",&t2.hours); Enter Minutes: 10
24 printf ("Enter Minutes: "); Enter Seconds: 10
25 scanf ("%d",&t2.minutes); The Time is 2:10:10
26 printf ("Enter Seconds: "); Sum of the two time's is 3:30:30
Array of Structure
 It can be defined as the collection of multiple structure variables where each
variable contains information about different entities.
 The array of structures in C are used to store information about multiple entities of
different data types.
Syntax
1 struct structure_name
2 {
3 member1_declaration;
4 member2_declaration;
5 ...
6 memberN_declaration;
7 } structure_variable[size];
 Write a program to read and display N student information using array of structure.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program
1 #include<stdio.h> Output
2 struct student {
3 char name[20]; Enter how many records u want to store : 3
4 int rollno;
5 float cpi; Enter 1 record :
6 }; Enter Name : aaa
7 int main( ) { Enter RollNo. : 111
8 int i,n; Enter CPI : 7.89
9 printf("Enter how many records u want to store : ");
10 scanf("%d",&n); Enter 2 record :
11 struct student sarr[n]; Enter Name : bbb
12 for(i=0; i<n; i++) Enter RollNo. : 222
13 {
Enter CPI : 7.85
14 printf("\nEnter %d record : \n",i+1);
15 printf("Enter Name : ");
16 scanf("%s",sarr[i].name); Enter 3 record :
17 printf("Enter RollNo. : "); Enter Name : ccc
18 scanf("%d",&sarr[i].rollno); Enter RollNo. : 333
19 printf("Enter CPI : "); Enter CPI : 8.56
20 scanf("%f",&sarr[i].cpi);
21 } Name RollNo Marks
22 printf("\n\tName\tRollNo\tMarks\t\n"); aaa 111 7.89
23 for(i=0; i<n; i++) { bbb 222 7.85
24 printf("\t%s\t\t%d\t\t%.2f\t\n", sarr[i].name, ccc 333 8.56
25 sarr[i].rollno, sarr[i].cpi);
26 }
27 return 0;
28 }
 Write a program to declare time structure and read two different time period and display sum of it using function.

WAP to print Odd numbers between 1 to n

Program
1 #include<stdio.h> Output
2 struct Time {
3 int hours; Enter Hours: 1
4 int minutes; Enter Minutes: 20
5 int seconds; Enter Seconds: 20
6 };
7 struct Time input(); // function declaration Hours : Minutes : Seconds
8 int main() 1 : 20 : 20
9 {
10 struct Time t;
11 t=input();
12 printf("Hours : Minutes : Seconds\n %d : %d :
13 %d",t.hours,t.minutes,t.seconds);
14 return 0;
15 }
16 struct Time input() // function definition
17 {
18 struct Time tt;
19 printf ("Enter Hours: ");
20 scanf ("%d",&tt.hours);
21 printf ("Enter Minutes: ");
22 scanf ("%d",&tt.minutes);
23 printf ("Enter Seconds: ");
24 scanf ("%d",&tt.seconds);
25 return tt; // return structure variable
26 }
Structure using Pointer
 Reference/address of structure object is passed as function argument to the definition of function.
Program Output
1 #include <stdio.h>
Enter Name: ABC
2 struct student {
3 char name[20]; Enter RollNo: 121
4 int rollno; Enter CPI: 7.46
5 float cpi;
6 };
7 int main() Student Details:
8 { Name: ABC
9 struct student *studPtr, stud1;
10 studPtr = &stud1; RollNo: 121
11 printf("Enter Name: "); CPI: 7.460000
12 scanf("%s", studPtr->name);
13 printf("Enter RollNo: ");
14 scanf("%d", &studPtr->rollno);
15 printf("Enter CPI: ");
16 scanf("%f", &studPtr->cpi);
17 printf("\nStudent Details:\n");
18 printf("Name: %s\n", studPtr->name);
19 printf("RollNo: %d", studPtr->rollno);
20 printf(”\nCPI: %f", studPtr->cpi);
21 return 0;
22 }
Nested Structure
 When a structure contains another structure, it is called nested structure.
 For example, we have two structures named Address and Student. To make Address nested
to Student, we have to define Address structure before and outside Student structure and
create an object of Address structure inside Student structure.
Syntax
1 struct structure_name1
2 {
3 member1_declaration;
4 member2_declaration;
5 ...
6 memberN_declaration;
7 };
8 struct structure_name2
9 {
10 member1_declaration;
11 member2_declaration;
12 ...
13 struct structure1 obj;
14 };
Write a program to read and display student information using nested of structure.
Program
1 #include<stdio.h> 27 printf("\n\tEnter Student City : ");
2 struct Address 28 scanf("%s",s.Add.City);
3 { 29 printf("\n\tEnter Student Pincode : ");
4 char HouseNo[25]; 30 scanf("%s",s.Add.PinCode);
5 char City[25]; 31 printf("\nDetails of Students");
6 char PinCode[25]; 32 printf("\n\tStudent Name : %s",s.name);
7 }; 33 printf("\n\tStudent Roll Number :
8 struct Student 34 %d",s.roll);
9 { 35 printf("\n\tStudent CPI : %f",s.cpi);
10 char name[25]; 36 printf("\n\tStudent House No :
11 int roll; 37 %s",s.Add.HouseNo);
12 float cpi; 38 printf("\n\tStudent City :
13 struct Address Add; 39 %s",s.Add.City);
14 }; 40 printf("\n\tStudent Pincode :
15 int main() 41 %s",s.Add.PinCode);
16 { 42 return 0;
17 int i; 43 }
18 struct Student s;
19 printf("\n\tEnter Student Name : "); Output
20 scanf("%s",s.name); Details of Students
21 printf("\n\tEnter Student Roll Number : "); Student Name : aaa
22 scanf("%d",&s.roll); Student Roll Number : 111
23 printf("\n\tEnter Student CPI : "); Student CPI : 7.890000
24 scanf("%f",&s.cpi); Student House No : 39
25 printf("\n\tEnter Student House No : "); Student City : rajkot
26 scanf("%s",s.Add.HouseNo); Student Pincode : 360001
Practice Programs
1. Define a structure data type called time_struct containing three member’s integer hours, minutes, second.
Develop a program that would assign values to individual member and display the time in following format :
HH:MM:SS
2. WAP to create structure of book with book title, author name, publication, and price. Read data of n books
and display them.
3. Define a structure Person that would contain person name, date of joining, and salary using this structure to
read this information of 5 people and print the same on screen.
4. Define a structure time_struct containing three member’s integer hour, integer minute and integer second.
WAP that would assign values to the individual number and display the time in the following format: 16: 40:
51.
5. Define a structure cricket that will describe the following information:
Player name
Team name
Batting average
6. Using cricket, declare an array player with 50 elements and WAP to read the information about all the 50
players and print team wise list containing names of players with their batting average.
7. Define a structure student_record to contain name, branch, and total marks obtained. WAP to read data for
10 students in a class and print them.
Union
What is Union?
 Union is a user defined data type similar like Structure.
 It holds different data types in the same memory location.
 You can define a union with various members, but only one member can hold a
value at any given time.
 Union provide an efficient way of using the same memory location for multiple-
purpose.
Syntax to Define and Access Union
 Declaration of union must start with the keyword union followed by the union
name and union’s member variables are declared within braces.
Syntax
1 union union_name union_name is name of custom type.
2 {
3 member1_declaration;
4 member2_declaration;
memberN_declaration is individual member
5 . . .
declaration.
6 memberN_declaration;
7 };
 Accessing the union members:
 You need to create an object of union to access its members.
 Object is a variable of type union. Union members are accessed using the dot operator(.)
between union’s object and union’s member name.
Syntax
1 union union_name union_variable;
Example to Define Union
Example
1 union student
2 {
3 char name[30]; // Student Name
4 int roll_no; // Student Roll No
5 float CPI; // Student CPI
6 int backlog; // Student Backlog
7 } student1;

 You must terminate union definition with semicolon ;.

 You cannot assign value to members inside the union definition, it will cause
compilation error.
Example
1 union student
2 {
3 char name[30] = “ABC”; // Student Name
4 . . .
5 } student1;
Structure Vs. Union
COMPARISON STRUCTURE UNION
Basic The separate memory location is allotted to All members of the 'union' share the same memory location.
each member of the structure.
keyword 'struct' 'union'
Size Size of Structure = sum of size of all the data Size of Union = size of the largest member.
members.
Store Value Stores distinct values for all the members. Stores same value for all the members.
At a Time A structure stores multiple values, of the A union stores a single value at a time for all members.
different members, of the structure.
Declaration struct ss union uu
{ { 4 bytes
int a; 1 byte for c int a;
float f; float f; c
2 bytes for a a
char c char c f
}; 4 bytes for f };
Where Union should be used?
 Mouse Programming
 Embedded Programming
 Low Level System Programming
User Defined Data
Type
User Defined Data Type
• C language has some standard types such as int, double and char.
• However you can create your own data type, based on the basic
ones.
• There are Four ways do this:
• enum
• typedef
• struct
• union
Enumerated Data Type
Enumerated Data Type
Enumerated Data Type
Enumerated Data Type
Enumerated Data Type
Enumerated Data Type
Enumerated Data Type
Advantages of Enumerated Data type
typedef
 Structure

Department of Information Technology

 Structure
• Structure is a way in which a complex user-defined data type
can be created using simple types.
• Is a derived data type like array, but unlike array can contain
elements of various types.
• For example, an employee is a data-type consisting of
employee number, name and salary.
• Structure allows us to define employee, and then assign
variables to the employee structure type.
Syntax – Definition and Declaration
• Defining structure:
struct struct-name{
data-type member-name1;
data-type member-name2;
… members
data-type member-namen;
};
• Declaring variable of struct-type:
struct struct-name variable-name;
 Example
• struct employee{
int emp_num; defining
char name[30];
double salary;
};
• struct employee emp1,emp2; declaring
 Accessing members
• Structure members can be accessed using ‘. ‘ (member access) operator
on the structure variable.

• Example:
• emp1.emp_num, emp2.name

• Structure members can be initialized during the declaration as:

• struct employee emp={123,”Bobby”,345.50};
Example- simple (Employee Details)
struct emp{
int num;
char name[30];
double sal;
};
struct emp emps;
main(){
read();
display(); }
read(){
printf("enter emp number:");
scanf("%d",&emps.num);
printf("enter name:");
scanf("%s",emps.name);
printf("enter salary:");
scanf("%lf", &emps.sal); }
display(){
printf("Displaying data \n");
printf(" emp number: %d\n", emps.num);
printf(" emp name: %s\n",emps.name);
printf(" emp salary: %5.2lf\n",emps.sal);
}
Output:
enter emp number:123
enter name:Kanaka You enter this
enter salary:12340
Displaying data
emp number: 123
emp name: Kanaka
emp salary: 12340.00
 Array of Structure
• C Structure is collection of different datatypes ( variables ) which are
grouped together.
• Array of structures is nothing but collection of structures.
• This is also called as structure array in C
Example – array of structure
main(){
struct ball{
int size;
char color[30];
}; Array of Structure
struct ball b[3];
int i;
for(i=0;i<3;i++){
printf("enter size of the ball:");
scanf("%d",&b[i].size);
printf("enter the color:");
scanf("%s",b[i].color); }
printf("Displaying data \n");
for(i=0;i<3;i++){
printf(" ball size: %d\n",b[i].size);
printf(" ball color: %s\n",b[i].color);
}}
Output:
enter size of the ball:12
enter the color:green
enter size of the ball:13 You enter this
enter the color:red
enter size of the ball:10
enter the color:yellow
Displaying data
ball size: 12
ball color: green
ball size: 13
ball color: red
ball size: 10
ball color: yellow
Structure & Union
Structure Pointers
• A pointer variable can be declared that points to a structure like it
points to an ordinary variable.
• Example:
• struct emp emps={123,"Ganga", 12000};
• struct emp *e=&emps;
• To access members through structure pointer, a special kind of symbol
 is used.
• Example:
• enum, ename
• Structure pointers are required when we pass a structure variable to a
function and we want the changes made in the variable visible in the
calling function.
struct emp{
int num;
char name[30];
double sal;
};
main(){
struct emp emps={123,"Ganga", 12000};
increment(&emps);
display(&emps); emps.num emps.sal

} 123 Ganga 12000

2001 emps.name 13200
increment(struct emp *e){
e->sal=e->sal*0.10+e->sal;
2001 e
}
display(struct emp *e){
printf("Displaying data \n");
printf(" emp number: %d\n",e->num);
printf(" emp name: %s\n",e->name);
printf(" emp salary: %5.2lf\n",e->sal);
}

Output:
Displaying data
emp number: 123
emp name: Ganga
emp salary: 13200.00
Nested structure
• A structure can have as its member a structure variable.
• Example:
struct name{
char fname[10];
char lname[10];
};
struct student{
struct name nm;
int rollno;
} stud; Note: another way of
declaring structure variable
main(){
printf("enter first and last name: ");
scanf("%s%s", stud.nm.fname,stud.nm.lname);
printf("\nenter roll number:");
scanf("%d", &stud.rollno);
printf("displaying data\n");
printf("Name:%s %s\n", stud.nm.fname,stud.nm.lname);
printf("roll no %d\n", stud.rollno);}

Output:
enter first and last name: John Ray
enter roll number:12345
displaying data
Name:John Ray
roll no 12345
 Unions
• Union allows variables of different data types to share the same
memory space.

• C Compiler always reserve enough room for the largest member

• For example, a variable of int type and a variable of type char share
same memory space. That means this memory space can be treated
either as int or as char.

• Union allows us to choose between types of data based on the

requirement of application.

• It is programmer's responsibility to see to it that only one logical

data is stored and used in a memory
 Syntax
• Defining union:
union union-name{
data-type member-name1;
data-type member-name2;
…
data-type member-namen;
};
• Declaring variable of union-type:
• union union-name variable-name;
• Accessing members:
• variable-name.member_name
Difference between struct and union
struct X{ a c[0] c[1]
short a;
char c[2]; 1000 1002 1003 1004
};

union X{
a
short a;
char c[2];
}; 1000 c[0] 1001 c[1] 1002
main(){ un.c
union X{
Output:
short int a;
16449
char c[2];} x1;
A
x1.a=16449; @
printf("%d\n",x1.a);
Output depends on
printf("%c\n",x1.c[0]); the endianess of the
printf("%c\n",x1.c[1]); } system you are using

c[1]=ascii(64)=‘@’ a=16449 c[0]=ascii(65)=‘A’

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Little endian

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Big endian
Difference between struct and union
// C program to illustrate differences between structure and Union
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

// declaring structure
struct struct_example
{
int integer;
float decimal;
char name[20];
};

// declaraing union

union union_example
{
int integer;
float decimal;
char name[20];
};
void main()
{
// creating variable for structure
// and initializing values difference
// six
struct struct_example s={18,38,"geeksforgeeks"};

// creating variable for union

// and initializing values
union union_example u={18,38,"geeksforgeeks"};

printf("structure data:\n integer: %d\n"

"decimal: %.2f\n name: %s\n",
s.integer, s.decimal, s.name);
printf("\nunion data:\n integeer: %d\n"
"decimal: %.2f\n name: %s\n",
u.integer, u.decimal, u.name);
// difference two and three
printf("\nsizeof structure : %d\n", sizeof(s));
printf("sizeof union : %d\n", sizeof(u));

// difference five
printf("\n Accessing all members at a time:");
s.integer = 183;
s.decimal = 90;
strcpy(s.name, "geeksforgeeks");

printf("structure data:\n integer: %d\n "

"decimal: %.2f\n name: %s\n",
s.integer, s.decimal, s.name);

u.integer = 183;
u.decimal = 90;
strcpy(u.name, "geeksforgeeks");

printf("\nunion data:\n integeer: %d\n "

"decimal: %.2f\n name: %s\n",
u.integer, u.decimal, u.name);
printf("\n Accessing one member at time:");

printf("\nstructure data:");
s.integer = 240;
printf("\ninteger: %d", s.integer);

s.decimal = 120;
printf("\ndecimal: %f", s.decimal);

strcpy(s.name, "C programming");

printf("\nname: %s\n", s.name);

printf("\n union data:");

u.integer = 240;
printf("\ninteger: %d", u.integer);

u.decimal = 120;
printf("\ndecimal: %f", u.decimal);

strcpy(u.name, "C programming");

printf("\nname: %s\n", u.name);
//difference four
printf("\nAltering a member value:\n");
s.integer = 1218;
printf("structure data:\n integer: %d\n "
" decimal: %.2f\n name: %s\n",
s.integer, s.decimal, s.name);

u.integer = 1218;
printf("union data:\n integer: %d\n"
" decimal: %.2f\n name: %s\n",
u.integer, u.decimal, u.name);
}
OUTPUT:
Structure Data:
Integer :18
Decimal: 38
name: geeksforgeeks
union data:
integeer: 18
decimal: 0.00
name: ?
sizeof structure: 28
sizeof union: 20
Accessing all members at a time:
structure data:
integer: 183
decimal: 90.00
name: geeksforgeeks
union data:
integeer: 1801807207
decimal: 277322871721159510000000000.00
name: geeksforgeeks
Accessing one member at a time:
structure data:
integer: 240
decimal: 120.000000
name: C programming
union data:
integer: 240
decimal: 120.000000
name: C programming
Altering a member value:
structure data:
integer: 1218
decimal: 120.00
name: C programming
union data:
integer: 1218
decimal: 0.00
name: ?