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Structures in C++

Presentation · February 2021

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32845.97765

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Tarfa Hamed
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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

C++ Structures

• C/C++ arrays allow you to define variables that combine several

data items of the same kind, but structure is another user defined
data type which allows you to combine data items of different
kinds.
• Structures are used to represent a record, suppose you want to
keep track of your books in a library.
• You might want to track the following attributes about each
book:
− Title
− Author
− Subject
− Book ID

Defining a Structure

• To define a structure, you must use the struct statement.

• The struct statement defines a new data type, with more than one
member, for your program.
• The format of the struct statement is this:

struct [structure tag] {

member definition;
member definition;
...
member definition;
} [one or more structure variables];

• The structure tag is optional and each member definition is a

normal variable definition, such as int i; or float f; or any other
valid variable definition.

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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

• At the end of the structure's definition, before the final semicolon,

you can specify one or more structure variables but it is optional.
• Here is the way you would declare the Library structure:

struct Library {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
} book;

Accessing Structure Members

• To access any member of a structure, we use the member access

operator (.)
• The member access operator is coded as a period between the
structure variable name and the structure member that we wish to
access.
• You would use struct keyword to define variables of structure
type.
• Following is the example to explain usage of structure:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};

int main() {
struct Books Book1; // Declare Book1 of type Book

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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

// book 1 specification
strcpy( Book1.title, "Learn C++ Programming");
strcpy( Book1.author, "Chand Miyan");
strcpy( Book1.subject, "C++ Programming");
Book1.book_id = 6495407;

struct Books Book2; // Declare Book2 of type Book

// book 2 specification
strcpy( Book2.title, "Telecom Billing");
strcpy( Book2.author, "Yakit Singha");
strcpy( Book2.subject, "Telecom");
Book2.book_id = 6495700;

// Print Book1 info

cout << "Book 1 title : " << Book1.title <<endl;
cout << "Book 1 author : " << Book1.author <<endl;
cout << "Book 1 subject : " << Book1.subject <<endl;
cout << "Book 1 id : " << Book1.book_id <<endl;

// Print Book2 info

cout << "Book 2 title : " << Book2.title <<endl;
cout << "Book 2 author : " << Book2.author <<endl;
cout << "Book 2 subject : " << Book2.subject <<endl;
cout << "Book 2 id : " << Book2.book_id <<endl;

return 0;
}

• When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the

following result:
Book 1 title : Learn C++ Programming
Book 1 author : Chand Miyan
Book 1 subject : C++ Programming
Book 1 id : 6495407
Book 2 title : Telecom Billing
Book 2 author : Yakit Singha
Book 2 subject : Telecom
Book 2 id : 6495700

Structures as Function Arguments

• You can pass a structure as a function argument in very similar

way as you pass any other variable or pointer.

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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

• You would access structure variables in the similar way as you

have accessed in the above example:

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

struct Books {
char title[50];
char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};

void printBook( struct Books book ) {

cout << "Book title : " << book.title <<endl;
cout << "Book author : " << book.author <<endl;
cout << "Book subject : " << book.subject <<endl;
cout << "Book id : " << book.book_id <<endl;
}

int main() {
struct Books Book1; // Declare Book1 of type Book
struct Books Book2; // Declare Book2 of type Book

// book 1 specification
strcpy( Book1.title, "Learn C++ Programming");
strcpy( Book1.author, "Chand Miyan");
strcpy( Book1.subject, "C++ Programming");
Book1.book_id = 6495407;

// book 2 specification
strcpy( Book2.title, "Telecom Billing");
strcpy( Book2.author, "Yakit Singha");
strcpy( Book2.subject, "Telecom");
Book2.book_id = 6495700;

// Print Book1 info

printBook( Book1 );

// Print Book2 info

printBook( Book2 );

return 0;
}
• When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the
following result:
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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

Book title : Learn C++ Programming

Book author : Chand Miyan
Book subject : C++ Programming
Book id : 6495407
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Yakit Singha
Book subject : Telecom
Book id : 6495700

Pointers to Structures

• You can define pointers to structures in very similar way as you

define pointer to any other variable as follows:

struct Books *struct_pointer;

• Now, you can store the address of a structure variable in the

above defined pointer variable.
• To find the address of a structure variable, place the & operator
before the structure's name as follows:

struct_pointer = &Book1;

• To access the members of a structure using a pointer to that

structure, you must use the -> operator as follows:

struct_pointer->title;

• Let us re-write above example using structure pointer, hope this

will be easy for you to understand the concept:
#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

struct Books {
char title[50];

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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

char author[50];
char subject[100];
int book_id;
};

// This function accept pointer to structure as parameter.

void printBook( struct Books *book ) {
cout << "Book title : " << book->title <<endl;
cout << "Book author : " << book->author <<endl;
cout << "Book subject : " << book->subject <<endl;
cout << "Book id : " << book->book_id <<endl;
}

int main() {
struct Books Book1; // Declare Book1 of type Book
struct Books Book2; // Declare Book2 of type Book

// Book 1 specification
strcpy( Book1.title, "Learn C++ Programming");
strcpy( Book1.author, "Chand Miyan");
strcpy( Book1.subject, "C++ Programming");
Book1.book_id = 6495407;

// Book 2 specification
strcpy( Book2.title, "Telecom Billing");
strcpy( Book2.author, "Yakit Singha");
strcpy( Book2.subject, "Telecom");
Book2.book_id = 6495700;

// Print Book1 info, passing address of structure

printBook( &Book1 );

// Print Book1 info, passing address of structure

printBook( &Book2 );

return 0;
}

• When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the

following result:
Book title : Learn C++ Programming
Book author : Chand Miyan
Book subject : C++ Programming
Book id : 6495407
Book title : Telecom Billing
Book author : Yakit Singha
Book subject : Telecom
Book id : 6495700

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Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

Complex number example using struct

• A complex number consists of two parts: real and imaginary

• Both parts are floating point numbers
• This example involves using function that receives and return
structures
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
struct Complex {
float real;
float img;
};

Complex add_complex( Complex z1, Complex z2 ) {

Complex z3;
z3.real = z1.real + z2.real;
z3.img = z1.img + z2.img;
return z3;
}

int main()
{
Complex z1, z2, z3;

cout<<"Enter the first complex number \n";

cout<<"Enter the real part " ;
cin>>z1.real ;
cout<<"Enter the imaginary part " ;
cin>>z1.img ;

cout<< "Enter the second complex number \n";

cout<< "Enter the real part " ;
cin>>z2.real;
cout<<"Enter the imaginary part " ;
cin>>z2.img ;

cout<<endl;
z3 = add_complex( z1, z2 );
//show the sum
cout<< z3.real<< "\t"<<z3.img ;

return 0;
}

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 Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Mosul, Iraq

Array of structures

• Arrays can be declared of type struct

• In this case, each element of the array will be an independent
structure (record)
• Each array element can be accessed using its index
• Each structure field can be accessed using the dot . operator
• Consider the following example:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
struct student
{
int roll_no;
string name;
int phone_number;
}stud[5];

int main(){

int i;

for(i=0; i<5; i++){ //taking values from user

cout << "Student " << i + 1 << endl;
cout << "Enter roll no" << endl;
cin >> stud[i].roll_no;
cout << "Enter name" << endl;
cin >> stud[i].name;
cout << "Enter phone number" << endl;
cin >> stud[i].phone_number;
}

for(i=0; i<5; i++){ //printing values

cout << "Student " << i + 1 << endl;
cout << "Roll no : " << stud[i].roll_no << endl;
cout << "Name : " << stud[i].name << endl;
cout << "Phone no : " << stud[i].phone_number << endl;
}
return 0;
}

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