C Nested Structures
Nested Structs
A structure can also contain another structure as a member. This is called a nested structure, and it is useful when you want to group related data together in layers:
Example
struct Owner {
char firstName[30];
char lastName[30];
};
struct Car {
char brand[30];
int year;
struct Owner owner; // Nested structure
};
int main() {
struct Owner owner = {"John", "Doe"};
struct Car car1 = {"Toyota", 2010, owner};
printf("Car: %s (%d)\n", car1.brand, car1.year);
printf("Owner: %s %s\n", car1.owner.firstName, car1.owner.lastName);
return 0;
}
Try it Yourself »
Here, the Car structure contains another structure (Owner) inside it.
This makes it easy to organize complex data, for example, a car and its owner.
To access a member of the inner structure, use the dot . twice, like car1.owner.firstName:
struct Car car1
brand"Toyota"car1.brand
year2010car1.year
struct Owner owner
firstName"John"car1.owner.firstName
lastName"Doe"car1.owner.lastName
Create the Inner Structure Directly
You can also create the inner structure directly inside the curly braces, without creating a separate variable for it first:
Example
int main() {
struct Car car1 = {"Toyota", 2010, {"John", "Doe"}};
printf("Car: %s (%d)\n", car1.brand, car1.year);
printf("Owner: %s %s\n", car1.owner.firstName, car1.owner.lastName);
return 0;
}
Try it Yourself »
