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CPNM Lecture 13 Structures and Unions

The document discusses structures and unions in C programming. It defines structures as collections of related variables of different types stored together under one name. Unions share the same storage location for members. The document provides examples of declaring, initializing, and accessing structures and unions. It also covers passing structures to functions, nested structures, arrays of structures, and endianness.

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Saptarshi Kundu
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© © All Rights Reserved
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10 views

CPNM Lecture 13 Structures and Unions

The document discusses structures and unions in C programming. It defines structures as collections of related variables of different types stored together under one name. Unions share the same storage location for members. The document provides examples of declaring, initializing, and accessing structures and unions. It also covers passing structures to functions, nested structures, arrays of structures, and endianness.

Uploaded by

Saptarshi Kundu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions

Mridul Sankar Barik

Jadavpur University

2023

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 1 / 18
Introduction

A structure is a collection of values, possibly of different types


A union is same as a structure, except that its members share the
same storage

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 2 / 18
Structures I

Collections of related variables (aggregates) under one name


Can contain variables of different data types
Commonly used to define records to be stored in files
Combined with pointers, can create linked lists, stacks, queues, and
trees
Structures are also known as records and members as fields
Arrays vs. Structures
All elements of an array has the same type
To select an array element we have to specify its position or index
Members of a structure need not be of same type
Members of a structure can be accessed by its name

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 3 / 18
Structures II
Example:

struct student{
char name[40];
int roll;
int age;
}
...
printf("%d\n", sizeof(struct student)); /*Output 48*/

Keyword struct defines a structure, followed by the name of the


structure student
name, roll, age are members of the structure student
Members of structure are stored in memory in the order in which they
are declared

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 4 / 18
Structures III

Each structure defines a new scope


Names declared in that scope won’t conflict with other names in a
program
Each structure has a separate name space for its members
A structure cannot contain an instance of itself
A structure can contain a member that is a pointer to the same
structure type
A structure definition does not reserve space in memory, instead
creates a new data type used to declare structure variables

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 5 / 18
Structures IV
Structure declarations

struct student{
char name[40];
int roll;
int age;
} s1, students[20], *p;
OR
struct student s1, students[20], *p;

Structure initialization

struct student s1 = {"ABC", 1234, 18};


...
struct student s2 = s1;
...
struct student s3;
s3.name = "XYZ";
s3.roll = 1234;
s3.age = 20;

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 6 / 18
Structures V

Initializers must be constant expressions


Initializers can have fewer members; Leftover members are given 0 as
their initial value (0.0 for float and empty string for string members)
Designated initializers {.age=19, .name="PQR", .roll=1024}
The combination of period and member name is called a designator
Order of members is not important

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 7 / 18
Operations on Structure

Dot operator: access a member within a structure


Name of the structure variable, period, name of the member

printf("Student name : %s\n", s1.name);


printf("Student Roll : %d\n", s1.roll);
printf("Student age : %d\n", s1.age);

Assignment operator s1 = s2;


Arrays cannot be copied using ‘=‘ operator; Solution: Create dummy
structures to enclose arrays that will be copied later
Can be used only with structures of compatible type
Can not use the == or != operators

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 8 / 18
Accessing Members of Structures

Dot operator (.) used with structure variables

struct student s1;


printf("%s", s1.name);

Arrow operator (->) used with pointers to structure variables

struct student *p = &s1;


printf("%s", p->name);
printf("%s", (*p).name);

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 9 / 18
Structures and Functions

Passing structure to functions


Pass entire structure OR pass individual members: Both are Call by
Value
Pass pointers to structures
To pass arrays as Call by Value
Create a structure with the array as a member
Pass the structure

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 10 / 18
typedef

Creates synonyms (aliases) for previously defined data types


Use typedef to create shorter type names
Example:

typedef struct{
char name[40];
int roll;
int age;
} student;

typedef student *studentPtr;

student s1, s2;


studentPtr p1, p2;

typedef does not create new data types


Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 11 / 18
Structures as Arguments and Return Values I

Functions may have structures as arguments

void printStudent(student s){


printf("Roll : %d\n", s.roll);
printf("Age : %s\n", s.age);
printf("Name : %d", s.name);
}
...
student s1 = {"abc", 1234, 20};
printStudent(s1);

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 12 / 18
Structures as Arguments and Return Values II

Functions may have structures as return values

student buildStudent(char *name, int roll, int age){


student s;
strcpy(s.name, name);
s.roll=roll;
s.age=age;
return(s);
}
...
student s1 = buildStudent("abc", 1234, 20);

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 13 / 18
Nested Structures - Example I

typedef struct{
char first[20];
char middleInitial;
char last[20];
} personName;

typedef struct{
personName name;
int roll;
int age;
} student;

student s1, s2;


strcpy(s1.name.first, "ABC");
s1.name.middleInitial='C';
strcpy(s1.name.last, "XYZ");

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 14 / 18
Arrays of Structures - Example I

student BCSE[70];
...
for(i=0; i<70;i++)
printStudent(BCSE[i]);
...
BCSE[10].age=20;
strcpy(BCSE[10].name.first, "ABC");

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 15 / 18
Unions I

Compiler allocates space for the largest of the members


Assigning a new value to one member alters the values of the other
members as well
Union declarations ⇒ same as structures

typedef union{
int x;
unsigned char c[4];
} Number;

Number n;
int i;

n.x=10;
for(i=0;i<4;i++)
printf("%d ", n.c[i]); /*Output 10 0 0 0*/

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 16 / 18
Unions II

Only the first member of a union can be given an initial value


Designated initializer can be used to initialize only one member which
need not be the first one
Size of a union is the size of it’s largest member

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 17 / 18
Endianness

Endianness refers to the sequential order in which bytes are arranged


into larger numerical values when stored in memory or when
transmitted over network
Big-endian: Low order byte is at the highest address
Little-endian: Low order byte is at the lowest address
To find out endianness of a machine

unsigned int i = 1;
char *c = (char*)&i;
if (*c)
printf("Little endian");
else
printf("Big endian");

Mridul Sankar Barik (Jadavpur University) CPNM Lecture 13 - Structures and Unions 2023 18 / 18

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