Why declare a struct that only contains an array in C?

c arrays coding-style struct
Joe.Z picture Joe.Z · Aug 6, 2011 · Viewed 7.6k times · Source

I came across some code containing the following:

struct ABC {
    unsigned long array[MAX];
} abc;

When does it make sense to use a declaration like this?

Answer

Blagovest Buyukliev picture Blagovest Buyukliev · Aug 6, 2011

It allows you to pass the array to a function by value, or get it returned by value from a function.

Structs can be passed by value, unlike arrays which decay to a pointer in these contexts.

Related questions

How do I determine the size of my array in C?

How do I determine the size of my array in C? That is, the number of elements the array can hold?

Read More
How to initialize all members of an array to the same value?

I have a large array in C (not C++ if that makes a difference). I want to initialize all members of the same value. I could swear I once knew a simple way to do this. I could use memset() …

Read More
How do I create an array of strings in C?

I am trying to create an array of strings in C. If I use this code: char (*a[2])[14]; a[0]="blah"; a[1]="hmm"; gcc gives me "warning: assignment from incompatible pointer type". What is the correct way to do this? edit: …

Read More