Can we use bit field for an array which is member of the structure in c?

Question

Can we use bit field of an array which is a part of the structure? Is this possible in C?

typedef struct convert
{
    unsigned char data[7] : 5;                                        //5x7
};

Answer 1

No you can not do that.

• Bitfields can only be of type int
• Bitfields are padded to the size of the next element in the struct .

If your array is small enough then you may assign them individual names and make 7 5-bit bitfields, but that is probably not what you want.

Shifting them manually with a macro will be your best bet and as fast.