Difference between Structure and Union in C

structures in C

A structure is a user-defined data type available in C that allows to combining data items of different kinds. Structures are used to represent a record.
Defining a structure: To define a structure, you must use the struct statement. The struct statement defines a new data type, with more than one member. The format of the struct statement is as follows:

   struct [structure name]
   {
       member definition;
       member definition;
       ...
       member definition;
   };

union

A union is a special data type available in C that allows storing different data types in the same memory location. You can define a union with many members, but only one member can contain a value at any given time. Unions provide an efficient way of using the same memory location for multiple purposes.
Defining a Union: To define a union, you must use the union statement in the same way as you did while defining a structure. The union statement defines a new data type with more than one member for your program. The format of the union statement is as follows:

    union [union name]
    {
       member definition;
       member definition;
       ...
       member definition;
    };

Similarities between Structure and Union

Both are user-defined data types used to store data of different types as a single unit.
Their members can be objects of any type, including other structures and unions or arrays. A member can also consist of a bit field.
Both structures and unions support only assignment = and sizeof operators. The two structures or unions in the assignment must have the same members and member types.
A structure or a union can be passed by value to functions and returned by value by functions. The argument must have the same type as the function parameter. A structure or union is passed by value just like a scalar variable as a corresponding parameter.
‘.’ operator is used for accessing members.

Differences

// C program to illustrate differences  
// between structure and Union 
#include <stdio.h> 
#include <string.h> 
   
// declaring structure 
struct struct_example 
{ 
    int integer; 
    float decimal; 
    char name[20]; 
}; 
   
// declaraing union 
   
union union_example 
{ 
    int integer; 
    float decimal; 
    char name[20]; 
}; 
   
void main() 
{ 
    // creating variable for structure  
    // and initializing values difference  
    // six 
    struct struct_example s={18,38,"geeksforgeeks"}; 
   
    // creating variable for union  
    // and initializing values 
    union union_example u={18,38,"geeksforgeeks"}; 
   
           
    printf("structure data:
integer: %d
" 
                "decimal: %.2f
name: %s
", 
                s.integer, s.decimal, s.name); 
    printf("
union data:
integeer: %d
"
                 "decimal: %.2f
name: %s
",  
                u.integer, u.decimal, u.name); 
   
   
    // difference two and three 
    printf("
sizeof structure : %d
", sizeof(s)); 
    printf("sizeof union : %d
", sizeof(u)); 
       
    // difference five 
    printf("
Accessing all members at a time:");  
    s.integer = 183; 
    s.decimal = 90; 
    strcpy(s.name, "geeksforgeeks"); 
       
    printf("structure data:
integer: %d
"
                "decimal: %.2f
name: %s
", 
            s.integer, s.decimal, s.name); 
       
    u.integer = 183; 
    u.decimal = 90; 
    strcpy(u.name, "geeksforgeeks"); 
       
    printf("
union data:
integeer: %d
"
                "decimal: %.2f
name: %s
", 
            u.integer, u.decimal, u.name); 
       
    printf("
Accessing one member at time:"); 
       
    printf("
structure data:"); 
    s.integer = 240; 
    printf("
integer: %d", s.integer); 
       
    s.decimal = 120; 
    printf("
decimal: %f", s.decimal); 
       
    strcpy(s.name, "C programming"); 
    printf("
name: %s
", s.name); 
       
    printf("
union data:"); 
    u.integer = 240; 
    printf("
integer: %d", u.integer); 
       
    u.decimal = 120; 
    printf("
decimal: %f", u.decimal); 
       
    strcpy(u.name, "C programming"); 
    printf("
name: %s
", u.name); 
       
    //difference four 
    printf("
Altering a member value:
"); 
    s.integer = 1218; 
    printf("structure data:
integer: %d
"
                " decimal: %.2f
name: %s
", 
                s.integer, s.decimal, s.name); 
       
    u.integer = 1218; 
    printf("union data:
integer: %d
"
           " decimal: %.2f
name: %s
", 
            u.integer, u.decimal, u.name);  
} 

Output:

structure data:
 integer: 18
 decimal: 38.00
 name: geeksforgeeks

union data:
 integeer: 18
 decimal: 0.00
 name: ?

sizeof structure: 28
sizeof union: 20

 Accessing all members at a time: structure data:
 integer: 183
 decimal: 90.00
 name: geeksforgeeks

union data:
 integeer: 1801807207
 decimal: 277322871721159510000000000.00
 name: geeksforgeeks

 Accessing one member at a time:
structure data:
integer: 240
decimal: 120.000000
name: C programming

 union data:
integer: 240
decimal: 120.000000
name: C programming

Altering a member value:
structure data:
 integer: 1218
 decimal: 120.00
 name: C programming
union data:
 integer: 1218
 decimal: 0.00
 name: ?

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Difference between Structure and Union in C

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