Is there an easy explanation for what this error means?
request for member '*******' in something not a structure or union
I've encountered it several times in the time that I've been learning C, but I haven't got a clue as to what it means.
It also happens if you're trying to access an instance when you have a pointer, and vice versa:
struct foo { int x, y, z; }; struct foo a, *b = &a; b.x = 12; /* This will generate the error, should be b->x or (*b).x */
As pointed out in a comment, this can be made excruciating if someone goes and typedef
s a pointer, i.e. includes the *
in a typedef, like so:
typedef struct foo* Foo;
Because then you get code that looks like it's dealing with instances, when in fact it's dealing with pointers:
Foo a_foo = get_a_brand_new_foo(); a_foo->field = FANTASTIC_VALUE;
Note how the above looks as if it should be written a_foo.field
, but that would fail since Foo
is a pointer to struct. I strongly recommend against typedef
:ed pointers in C. Pointers are important, don't hide your asterisks. Let them shine.
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