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Learn C Fundamentals

Handling Data Using Structures

Learn structures and their basic syntax with the help of an interactive example.

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Introduction to structures

As we know, arrays do not permit the collection of dissimilar elements. To gather dissimilar elements together, we need to use a data type called structure.

A structure is a user-defined data type that allows us to store data of dissimilar types.

Declaring a structure

The basic syntax for declaring a structure in C is given below:

The program given below declares a structure, employee, using a keyword called struct. The names, ages, and salaries are the members, or elements, of the structure, employee.

C
# include <stdio.h> 



int main( ) 

{	

	// Declares structure employee

	struct employee 

	{

		// Members of structure

		char name ;

		int age ; 

		float salary ; 

	} ;



    return 0;

}

đź“ťNote: A structure is usually a collection of dissimilar elements.

Creating a structure variable

After defining the structure, we can create a variable of its type using the following syntax:

struct structName structVariable;

Once the structure is declared, we have to create variables of its type. In our case, these variables are e1, e2, e3, and e4.

C
# include <stdio.h> 



int main( ) 

{	

	// Declares structure employee

	struct employee 

	{

		// Members of structure

		char name ;

		int age ; 

		float salary ; 

	} ;

	// Declares structure varaible

    struct employee e1, e2, e3;



	return 0; 

}

Assigning values to structure members

Method 1: assign a value to a single member

We can use the dot operator to access the particular member of the structure variable and assign it a value. . is known as a member access operator.

structureVariable . memberVariable = value;

The program given below assigns values to the members of e1 by using the dot operator.

C
# include <stdio.h> 



int main( ) 

{	

	// Declares structure employee

	struct employee 

	{

		// Members of structure

		char name ;

		int age ; 

		float salary ; 

	} ;

	// Declares structure varaible

    struct employee e1, e2, e3;

    

	// Assigning values to structure members 

    e1.name = 'A';

	e1.age = 23;

	e1.salary = 4000.50; 



    // Printing values of structure members

	// Members of structure variable can be accessed using dot operator

	printf ( "%c %d %f\n", e1.name, e1.age, e1.salary ) ; 



	return 0; 

}

Method 2: assign values to all members

Using the initializer list, we can assign values to all the structure members in one line.

structureVariable = { member1Value , member2Value ,.........., member(n)Value };

The program given below uses the initializer list to assign values to all the members of e1, e2, e3, and e4, respectively.

C
# include <stdio.h> 



int main( ) 

{	

	// Declares structure employee

	struct employee 

	{

		// Members of structure

		char name ;

		int age ; 

		float salary ; 

	} ;

    

	// Assigning values to structure members in one line

    struct employee e1 = { 'A', 23, 4000.50 } ; 

	struct employee e2 = { 'X', 27, 5000.00 } ; 

	struct employee e3 = { 'Y', 28, 6000.75 } ;  



    //  Printing values of structure members

	printf ( "%c %d %f\n", e1.name, e1.age, e1.salary ) ;

	printf ( "%c %d %f\n", e2.name, e2.age, e2.salary ) ; 

	printf ( "%c %d %f\n", e3.name, e3.age, e3.salary ) ; 

	 

	return 0; 

}

đź“ť Note: A structure is also known as a user-defined data type, an aggregate data type, a secondary data type, or a derived data type.