The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.
- Steve Jobs

Pointer to Structure

In C, the pointer is a variable that holds the address of another data variable. A pointer to structure means a pointer variable can hold the address of a structure. The address of structure variable can be obtained by using the '&' operator. All structure members inside the structure can be accessed using pointer, by assigning the structure variable address to the pointer. The pointer variable occupies 4 bytes of memory in 32-bit machine and 8 bytes in 64-bit machine.

Syntax - Pointer to Structure

Syntax 
struct structname {
data type member1;
data type member2;
}variable1, *ptrvariable1;     //Pointer to structure declaration

Accessing Structure Members Using Pointers

A structure member can be accessed using its corresponding pointer variable. To access structure members, the (.)dot operator is used with the pointer variable.

Syntax-1 
(*ptrvariable).member1;

The (•)dot operator has a higher precedence than operator ' * '. The alternative to (•)dot operator is −> operator. Now it can also be written as,

Syntax-1 
*ptrvariable −> member1;

The "−>" can be combined with (.)dot (or) period operator to access a structure members.

C program - Pointers to Structure

Lets code pointers to structure and have some fun

pointer-struct-1.c 
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
//Structure Declaration
struct student{
char name[40];
struct avg{
int sub1, sub2, sub3;
float average;
}avg;
}stud1, *studptr = &stud1;  //Pointer variable stores the address of structure variable
int total;
printf("Enter the Name of the student : ");
scanf("%s", (*studptr).name);
printf("\n------Enter the marks of the student------ ");
printf("\nEnter sub1 marks : ");
scanf("%d",&studptr->avg.sub1);
printf("\nEnter sub2 marks : ");
scanf("%d",&studptr->avg.sub2);
printf("\nEnter sub3 marks : ");
scanf("%d",&studptr->avg.sub3);
total = (studptr->avg.sub1 + studptr->avg.sub2 + studptr->avg.sub3);
studptr->avg.average = total / 3;
printf("\n-------Student Details-------\n ");
printf("Name: %s", studptr->name);
printf("\nsub1: %d ", studptr->avg.sub1);
printf("\nsub2: %d ", studptr->avg.sub2);
printf("\nsub3: %d ", studptr->avg.sub3);
printf("\nAverage: %f ", studptr->avg.average);
return 0;
}
  • Enter the Name of the student :siva
  • ------Enter the marks of the student------
  • Enter sub1 marks :78
  • Enter sub2 marks :82
  • Enter sub3 marks :80
  • -------Student Details-------
  • Name: siva
  • sub1: 78
  • sub2: 82
  • sub3: 80
  • Average:80.000000

Note:

The above program illustrates that the structure members are accessed through pointer variable studptr.

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