LECTURE - 35

BASICS OF
STRUCTURES
Objectives
• Learn structure Basics
• Learn how to define a structure
• Learn how to declare variables of
structure type
• Learn how to access structure members
• Operations on structures
• Write Simple programs using structures.

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 Introduction
Syntax  We’ve seen variables of simple data types, such as float,
char, and int.
Additional
Information
 We saw derived data type, arrays to store group of
related data.
Do’s
 Variables of such types represent one item of
Don’ts information: a height, an amount, a count, or group of
item with same data type: list[10] and so on.
Applications

Case studies
 But, these basic types does not support the storage of
compound data.
Do it yourself

Eg. Student {name, address, age, sem, branch}

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 Introduction
Syntax
 C/C++ provides facilities to define one’s own
Additional types (user defined).
Information

 They may be a composite of basic types (int,

Do’s
double, etc) and other user-defined types.
Don’ts
Structures
Applications

Case studies

Do it yourself

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 Introduction
Syntax
 Definition:
Additional
 collection of one or more variables, possibly of
Information different types, grouped together under a single
name for convenient handling
Do’s

Don’ts • A structure type in C++ is called struct.

Applications
• A struct is heterogeneous in that it can be composed of
data of different types.
Case studies
• In contrast, array is homogeneous since it can contain
Do it yourself
only data of the same type.

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 Structures
Syntax
• Structures hold data that belong
Additional together.
Information
• Examples:
Do’s
Student record: student id, name, branch,
Don’ts
gender, start year, …
Bank account: account number, name,
Applications address, balance, …
Case studies
Address book: name, address, telephone
number, …
Do it yourself
• In database applications, structures are
called records.
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 Structures – Uses
Syntax
 Structures are user-defined aggregate types.
Additional  They assist program organisation by
Information
– Grouping logically related data, and giving this set of
Do’s variables a higher-level name and more abstract
representation.
Don’ts
– Enabling related variables to be manipulated as a
Applications
single unit rather than as separate entities.
– Reducing the number of parameters that need to be
Case studies passed between functions.
– Providing another means to return multiple values
Do it yourself
from a function.

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 Structures
• Individual components of a struct type
Syntax

Additional
Information
are called members (or fields).
Do’s
• Members can be of different types
(simple, array or struct).
Don’ts

• A struct is named as a whole while

Applications
individual members are named using field
Case studies
identifiers.
• Complex data structures can be formed
Do it yourself

by defining arrays of structs.

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 Structure Definition - Syntax
Syntax The general format of a structure definition is:
Additional
Information

struct tag_name
Do’s
{
Don’ts
data_type member1;
data_type member2;
Applications …
};
Case studies

Do it yourself

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 Structure Definition - Examples
Syntax
• Example:
Additional
Information

Do’s struct Date

Don’ts
{
int day; Members of the
Applications int month; structure Date
int year;
Case studies
} ;
Do it yourself

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 struct examples
Syntax • Example:
struct StudentInfo{
Additional
int Id;
Information
int age; The “StudentInfo”
char Gender; structure has 4 members
Do’s
double CGA; of different types.
Don’ts };
• Example:
Applications struct Employee{
char Name[15];
Case studies
char Address[30]; The “Employee”
int Age; structure has 6
Do it yourself
float Basic;
members
float DA;
float NetSalary;
}; CSE 101/102 Department of CSE 12/13/2018
 struct examples
Syntax
• Example:
Additional struct BankAccount{
Information char Name[15];
int AcountNo;
Do’s double balance; The “BankAccount”
int day;
int month; structure has 6 members.
Don’ts
int year;
};
Applications

Case studies
• Example:
struct StudentRecord{
Do it yourself
char Name[15]; The “StudentRecord”
int Id;
char Dept[5]; structure has 4
char Gender; members.
};
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 Important Points Regarding
Structures
Syntax

Additional • Declaration of Structure reserves no space.

Information

Do’s • It is nothing but the “ Template / Map /

Shape ” of the structure .
Don’ts

Applications • Memory is created , very first time when a

variable of structure type is created /
Case studies Instance is created.
Do it yourself

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 Declaring Structure Variables
Syntax
• Declaration of a variable of struct type using struct tag
Additional name, after structure definition:
Information
<struct-type> <identifier_list>;
Do’s
• Example:
Don’ts StudentRecord Student1, Student2;

Applications
Name Name
Case studies Student1 Id Gender Id Gender Student2
Do it yourself Dept Dept

Student1 and Student2 are variables of StudentRecord type.

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 Declaring Structure Variables
Syntax
Declare them at the time of structure definition:
Additional
Information struct student
{
Do’s
int rollno;
Don’ts int age;
char name[10];
Applications float height;
}s1, s2, s3; /* Defines 3 variables of type student */
Case studies

Do it yourself Members of a structure themselves

are not variables. i.e. rollno alone does
not have any value or meaning.
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 Member or dot operator
Syntax
 The link between member and a structure
Additional variable is established using the member
Information
operator ‘.’ which is also known as ‘dot
Do’s operator’
<struct-variable>.<member_name>
Don’ts

Applications
e.g.: student s1; // s1 is a variable of type
//student structure.
Case studies
s1. rollno;
Do it yourself
s1. age;
s1. name;
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 Ex: Member accessing using dot operator
Syntax
• Example:
Additional
StudentRecord Student1; //Student1 is a variable of type
Information //StudentRecord
strcpy(Student1.Name, "Chan Tai Man"); Student1
Do’s
Student1.Id = 12345;
Name
Don’ts
strcpy(Student1.Dept, "COMP");
Student1.gender = 'M'; Id Gender
Applications cout << "The student is ";
Dept
switch (Student1.gender){
Case studies case 'F': cout << "Ms. "; break;
Chan Tai Man
case 'M': cout << "Mr. "; break;
Do it yourself
} 12345 M
cout << Student1.Name << endl;
COMP

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Syntax

Additional
Information

Do’s

Don’ts

Applications

Case studies

Do it yourself

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 Assigning values to members
Syntax
Different ways to assign values to the members of a structure:
Additional
Information
Assigning string:
Do’s
strcpy(s1.name, “Rama”);
struct student
Don’ts {
Assignment statement: int rollno;
int age;
Applications s1.rollno = 1335; char name[20];
float height;
s1.age = 18; }s1;
Case studies
s1.height = 5.8;
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Reading the values into memebers:

cin>>s1.name>>s1.age>>s1.rollno>>s1.height;
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 Structure: Example
Syntax struct Book { // definition
char title[20];
Additional
Information char author[15];
int pages;
Do’s
float price;
Don’ts };
void main( ){
Applications
Book b1, b2, b3;
Case studies
cout<<“Input values”;
cin>>b1.title>>b1.author>>b1.pages>>b1.price;
Do it yourself //output
cout<<b1.title<<b1.author<<b1.pages<<b1.price;
}
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Structure Initialization Methods
There is one-to-one correspondence between
the members and their initializing values.

1. Without tag name.

main()
{
struct
{
int rollno;
int age;
}s1 ={20, 21};
…
}
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 Structure Initialization Methods
Syntax

Additional 2. Using tag name.

Information

Do’s
main ( )
Don’ts
{
struct Student
{
Applications
int rollno;
int age;
Case studies };
Student s1={20, 21};
Do it yourself Student s2={21, 21};
}

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 Structure initialization
Syntax
3. Using a tag name and defined outside the function.
Additional
Information

struct Student
Do’s
{
int rollno;
Don’ts int age;
} s1={20, 21};
Applications
main ( )
Case studies {
Student s2={21, 21};
Do it yourself
…
…
}

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 struct-to-struct assignment
Syntax
• The values contained in one struct type variable can be
assigned to another struct variable provided they both
Additional
Information belong to the same struct type.
Student1
• Example:
Do’s
StudentRecord Student1, Student2; Chan Tai Man
Don’ts strcpy(Student1.Name, "Chan Tai Man");
Student1.Id = 12345; 12345 M
Applications strcpy(Student1.Dept, "COMP"); COMP
Student1.gender = 'M';
Case studies Student2
Student2 = Student1;
Do it yourself
Chan Tai Man

12345 M

CSE 101/102 Department of CSE

COMP
12/13/2018 24
 struct-to-struct assignment
- Example
Syntax

Additional
Information

Do’s

Don’ts

Applications

Case studies

Do it yourself

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 Comparison of structure variables
Syntax

If student1 and student2 belong to the same structure,

Additional then the following comparisons are valid:
Information

1. if(student1 .rollno == student2.rollno ) //comparison

Do’s of student1 and student2 with respect to the member rollno.
return 1 if they are equal,
Don’ts 0 otherwise.

Applications 2. if(student1 .rollno != student2 .rollno )

return 1 OR
if they are not equal,
Case studies 0 otherwise.
.
Do it yourself

Comparison of 2 structures should be done with respect to

any member variable.
No two structure variables can be compared directly!
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 Assigning and Comparing structure
variables : example
Syntax
struct Student{
int rollno;
Additional
Information
char name[20];
float marks;
Do’s };
void main(){
Don’ts
Student s1 = {111, “Rohan”, 72.50};
Applications Student s2 = {222, “Rishi”, 67.00};
If ((s1. rollno ==s2. rollno))
Case studies
cout<<“\nStudent1 and student2 are same\n”;
Do it yourself else
cout<<“\nStudent1 and student2 are NOT same\n”;
}
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 Operation on Individual members
Syntax • A member referred using the dot operator along with its
structure variable can be treated like any other variable name.
Additional • The precedence of the member operator is higher than
Information
all arithmetic and relational operators and therefore no
parentheses are required.
Do’s
if (s1.rollno == 111)
Don’ts
s1.marks += 10.0;

Applications float sum = s1.marks + s2.marks;

Case studies s1.marks++;

++s1.rollno; //applicable to numeric type members
Do it yourself

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 Summary
Syntax

• Structure Basics
Additional
Information
• Member accessing using dot operator
Do’s

Don’ts
• Assign and compare structure variables
Applications • Simple problems using structures
Case studies

Do it yourself

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