Thread: Structure padding

Hi,

If i write a program like this

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
   struct test
   {
     int value1;
     int value2;
   }test1={12,23};
    
   int *p;
   p = (int *)(&test1);
   printf("%d\n",*p);
   p++;
   printf("%d\n",*p);
   return 0;
}

Is it correct to access the individual values using p pointer? If structure padding comes into picture will i get invalid values?

Originally Posted by Satya

Is it correct to access the individual values using p pointer? If structure padding comes into picture will i get invalid values?

Yes, compiler padding and alignment might cause undesired and unexpected results, if you try to access members this way, not to mention that this can easily lead to an error prone code - even if anything goes as expected.
But why would you want to do that anyway?

Thank you for the reply. I have seen the above type of coding in this forum so wanted to clarify.