sizeof operator, im confused

good day guys,

i have this code

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>


int main(){
    struct a{
        int x;
        char y[10];
    };
    struct a aa;
    printf("%d", sizeof(aa));
}

---

when i run it the output is

Quote:

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16

---

when i change sizeof aa to sizeof aa.x the output is 4 which is understandable since member X is an int.

when i changed it to sizeoff aa.y the output is 10 which is also understandable, however when its sizeof aa its output is 16.

why?? :frown:

i read that by design, the memory allocated for each member is == to memory allocated for the largest member so in that case the sizeoff aa ought to return 20 since char y[10] is the largest member occupying 10bytes.

what i'm i missing?

The size of a structure is the sum of the sizes of it's members, plus some optional padding necessary to preserve alignment. The amount of padding usually depends on the alignment of the largest primitive data type in the struct (int, char, float, double, pointer).

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stddef.h>
int main(){
    struct a{
        int x;
        char y[10];
    };
    struct b{
        char y[10];
        int x;
    };
    printf("%zd\n", sizeof(struct a));
    printf("%zd\n", sizeof(struct b));

    printf("%ld\n", offsetof(struct a,x));
    printf("%ld\n", offsetof(struct a,y));

    printf("%ld\n", offsetof(struct b,y));
    printf("%ld\n", offsetof(struct b,x));
}

$ ./a.out
16
16
0
4
0
12

---

In struct a, the padding is at the end of the structure.
In struct b, the padding is between the array of chars and the int.

What does this do?

Code:

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offsetof();

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KingFlippyNips

What does this do?

Code:

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offsetof();

---

---

offsetof - cppreference.com

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KingFlippyNips

What does this do?

Code:

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offsetof();

---

---

That's C++ not C though.

Just thought I'd point that out as I thought "I've never seen that before", and now I know why (I don't know C++).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BpB

That's C++ not C though.

Just thought I'd point that out as I thought "I've never seen that before", and now I know why (I don't know C++).

---

I want to point out that this is still C. The person you are replying to simply used a C++ reference site.

offsetof(3): offset of structure member - Linux man page

On the above linked page you will also see, among other information, what standards this conforms to: C89, C99, POSIX.

The reason you might not have encountered it would be it's not considered a beginner tool, i.e. it's reasonable you will write entire programs without it. I'm sure it's most common use is in the debugging area.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whiteflags

I want to point out that this is still C. The person you are replying to simply used a C++ reference site.

offsetof(3): offset of structure member - Linux man page

On the above linked page you will also see, among other information, what standards this conforms to: C89, C99, POSIX.

The reason you might not have encountered it would be it's not considered a beginner tool, i.e. it's reasonable you will write entire programs without it. I'm sure it's most common use is in the debugging area.

---

I see, right, thanks for that correction.

Hint: Search for "c++ keyword" returns good results for most C keywords; but you do have to know a little C/C++ to recognize when it is C++ code being shown.

Tim S.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stahta01

Hint: Search for "c++ keyword" returns good results for most C keywords; but you do have to know a little C/C++ to recognize when it is C++ code being shown.

Tim S.

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offsetof() is not a keyword, and is not "C++". It is a C function. Even if you don't have a "man" help system on your computer, a simple Google search for "man 3 offsetof" will show you the use of the "C" function, in the Section 3, "Library functions". "Section 2" contains the System calls. Please see the main page for "Linux man pages" for more information on all the sections.

keyword was used as search term

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stahta01

Hint: Search for "c++ keyword" returns good results for most C keywords; but you do have to know a little C/C++ to recognize when it is C++ code being shown.

Tim S.

---

Tim:

The word "keyword" has a very specific meaning in C and C++ We would never use "keyword" as a "search term". "keywords" and "functions" are two different things.

Users here on the C forum, are beginners learning C, not C++. Asking them to search for a "c++ keyword" might, and probably will confuse them as they might not know anything about C++.

Quote:

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but you do have to know a little C/C++ to recognize when it is C++ code being shown.

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Ditto! A C beginner shouldn't have to.

The man system is very useful to both beginners, and experienced programmers. Better to recommend using man especially as there are several sites available online, such as die.net.

Maybe at this point it should be noted that offsetof is neither a keyword nor a function, but a macro.

A "function" may take parameters and/or may return some value.

A "function" can be implemented in the C language as:

a regular function

an inline function

a macro function

They are all used the same way, and are treated the same in the man system.

Either precision in the language matters or it doesn't.