Initialize typedef struct

Question

Why does this work:

struct person {
    char name[50];
    short mental_age;
} p1 = {"Donald", 4};

But not this:

typedef struct {
    char name[50];
    short mental_age;
} PERSON p1 = {"Donald", 4};

Is there a way that I can make a typedef struct and initialize Donald when I define this struct?

Answer 1

typedefs are aliases for other types. What you're doing is creating a convenience typedef. Since the purpose of a typedef is to create type aliases, you can't define a variable using it.

You have to do this:

typedef struct {
    // data
} mytype;

mytype mydata = {"Donald", 4};