C Nested Structures

C Nested Structures – Embedding Structures in Structures

In C, you can define a structure inside another structure — this is called a nested structure. It’s useful when you want to group related data within a bigger structure.

🔹 What is a Nested Structure?

A nested structure means putting one structure as a member of another. It helps organize complex data more logically.

📝 Example: C Nested Structure

In this example, we create a Student structure that contains an Address structure inside it.

#include <stdio.h>

struct Address {
    char city[20];
    int pincode;
};

struct Student {
    char name[30];
    int roll;
    struct Address addr;
};

int main() {
    struct Student stu;

    // Assigning values
    strcpy(stu.name, "Ravi");
    stu.roll = 101;
    strcpy(stu.addr.city, "Delhi");
    stu.addr.pincode = 110001;

    // Displaying values
    printf("Name: %s\n", stu.name);
    printf("Roll No: %d\n", stu.roll);
    printf("City: %s\n", stu.addr.city);
    printf("Pincode: %d\n", stu.addr.pincode);

    return 0;
}
  

📌 Tip Time

• You can define the nested structure either inside or outside the main structure.
• Access nested members using dot notation like: outer.inner.member

🎯 Try This Yourself!

Make a structure for Employee with nested Date for joining date and see if you can access the day, month, and year. 💪