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Groups > comp.lang.c > #162213

Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct?

From Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct?
Date 2021-08-02 13:36 -0700
Organization None to speak of
Message-ID <87k0l38tzd.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> (permalink)
References <se9b5g$l2n$1@dont-email.me> <se9fa1$ikv$1@dont-email.me> <867dh34oia.fsf@linuxsc.com> <se9kev$ndj$1@dont-email.me>

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Ian Pilcher <arequipeno@gmail.com> writes:
> On 8/2/21 2:47 PM, Tim Rentsch wrote:
>> I am curious to know why you care.  Would having a guarantee that
>> there is no padding affect what code you would write?  If it
>> would then there is a good chance that guarantee-depending code
>> has undefined behavior somewhere.
>
> It's just a convenient way to refer to either the "full" name (including
> the prefix) or the unique part of the name.  For example, I've got a
> bunch of struct foo's, each of which has a name that starts with "FOO:",
> and most of the time I don't care about the prefix.
>
>   #define FOO_PREFIX "FOO:"
>
>   static const char foo_prefix[sizeof FOO_PREFIX - 1] = FOO_PREFIX;
>
>   struct foo {
>       /* other members */
>       char prefix[sizeof foo_prefix];
>       char name[];
>   }
>
>   struct foo *alloc_foo(char *name)
>   {
>       struct foo *f;
>
>       f = malloc(sizeof *f + strlen(name) + 1);
>
>       // Or do something clever with sprintf()
>       memcpy(&f->prefix, foo_prefix, sizeof foo_prefix);
>       memcpy(&f->name, name, strlen(name) + 1);
>
>       return f;
>   }
>
> For a given struct foo *f, I can access the full name as f->prefix, and
> I can access the unique part as f->name.

Suggestion: Combine `prefix` and `name` into a single array of char, and
use `name+offset` to refer to the portion of the string following the
prefix.  Arrays are guaranteed to be contiguous.

If f->name contains a string whose length is at least 4, then f-name and
f->name+4 are both valid pointers to strings.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com
Working, but not speaking, for Philips
void Void(void) { Void(); } /* The recursive call of the void */

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Thread

Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Ian Pilcher <arequipeno@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 12:48 -0500
  Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2021-08-02 14:07 -0400
    Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 11:25 -0700
      Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2021-08-02 19:21 -0400
  Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-08-02 19:11 +0100
    Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 11:27 -0700
      Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-08-02 20:43 +0100
        Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:11 -0700
          Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:18 -0700
          Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:31 -0700
            Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2021-08-02 19:50 -0700
              Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2021-08-04 14:01 +0200
        Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:19 -0700
        Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2021-08-03 10:40 -0500
          Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2021-08-03 09:10 -0700
            Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2021-08-03 12:52 -0500
              Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2021-08-04 12:05 -0500
  Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 11:12 -0700
    Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2021-08-02 19:23 +0100
      Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:15 -0700
  Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2021-08-02 11:32 -0700
  Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Ian Pilcher <arequipeno@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:59 -0500
    Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Tim Rentsch <tr.17687@z991.linuxsc.com> - 2021-08-02 12:47 -0700
      Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Ian Pilcher <arequipeno@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 15:27 -0500
        Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:36 -0700
        Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? antispam@math.uni.wroc.pl - 2021-08-02 21:52 +0000
    Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-02 13:22 -0700
      Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2021-08-04 17:01 +0200
        Re: Padding between char array/VLA in struct? Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2021-08-04 10:11 -0700

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