Can we inline structures in C?

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Hello All,

I have a doubt, basically i have inlined functions and while calling them, i was not able to call them from the same source file. So i moved them to a header file.

Is that the same case with structures. We were planning to inline a structure. So is it possible to do so? or is it a good practice?

I would request any suggestion or help.

Thanks and Regards,
Rahul

What I have tried:

I tried the below code:

#include <stdio.h>

inline struct{
    int m;
    int j;
}book;

int main()
{
    printf("Hello World");
    int a = 0;

    return 0;
}

OUTPUT : Warning, the struct has been declared inline.

Posted 6-Feb-21 21:13pm

Rahul VB

Updated 6-Feb-21 21:25pm

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-06T21:25:00

What on earth use do you think that an inline struct would be? What difference would it make?

When you declare a function as inline you are asking teh compiler nicely to consider replacing calls to the function with the code directly:

C++

inline int foo(int bar) { return bar + 1; }
...
   x = foo(y);

becomes the same thing as writing this:

C++

x = y + 1;

and it's used for performance reasons to try to avoid the stacking of parameters, the machine calls subroutine call, the unstacking, and the machine code return from subroutine - and it can make a big difference in a tight loop.

But a struct doesn't - and can't - contain any code. It allocates memory space, and that only when a variable is declared. So what possible use would trying to inline it be?

And that's what the compiler is telling you: "This is a pointless thing to do, so I'm going to ignore it". That's why it's a warning rather than an error: it has no effect on the eventual program, but it's something you should remove!