Thread: trying to initialize an array of structures

Hi. Simple quesiton, I think: I'm trying to initialize an array of structures, each with an integer and 4 integer pointers. I have written the following:

Code:

main(){
    struct lattice_site{
         int spin;
         int *right_pointer;
         int *left_pointer;
         int *up_pointer;
         int *down_pointer;
    };
    struct lattice_site mc_array[2];
    mc_array[0] = {1,0,0,0,0};
    return 0;
}

The compiler gives me the following error:
structure_tester.c: In function `main':
structure_tester.c:15: parse error before '{' token

line 15 refers to the line " mc_array[0] = {1,0,0,0,0}; "

What confuses me is that this syntax works when you aren't using an array of pointers. That is, if I replace mc_array[i] with mc_array in both places, it initializes just fine.

I really need to make a 2-dimensional array of structures like the one above. Will this work?

Thanks!

This is assignment,

Code:

struct lattice_site mc_array[2];
mc_array[0] = {1,0,0,0,0};

This is initialisation

Code:

struct lattice_site mc_array[2] = {
    {1,0,0,0,0}
};

Then you're going to have to do things like

Code:

mc_array[i].spin = 1;

You can set a struct equal to another one so you can set up a "dummy" struct instance and then loop...

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
  struct lattice_site
  {
    int spin;
    int *right_pointer;
    int *left_pointer;
    int *up_pointer;
    int *down_pointer;
  };
  struct lattice_site dummy = {1,0,0,0,0};
  struct lattice_site mc_array[2];
  int i;

  for(i = 0;i < 2;++i)
    mc_array[i] = dummy;

  return 0;
}

This might be a gcc extension, but I don't think it is...someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I don't want to be suggesting non-portable solutions.