How to return a struct from a function in C++?

Question

I've tried on a few different forums and can't seem to get a straight answer, how can I make this function return the struct? If I try 'return newStudent;' I get the error 'No suitable user-defined conversion from studentType to studentType exists.'

// Input function
studentType newStudent()
{   
    struct studentType
    {
        string studentID;
        string firstName;
        string lastName;
        string subjectName;
        string courseGrade;

        int arrayMarks[4];

        double avgMarks;

    } newStudent;

    cout << "\nPlease enter student information:\n";

    cout << "\nFirst Name: ";
    cin >> newStudent.firstName;

    cout << "\nLast Name: ";
    cin >> newStudent.lastName;

    cout << "\nStudent ID: ";
    cin >> newStudent.studentID;

    cout << "\nSubject Name: ";
    cin >> newStudent.subjectName;

    for (int i = 0; i < NO_OF_TEST; i++)
    {   cout << "\nTest " << i+1 << " mark: ";
        cin >> newStudent.arrayMarks[i];
    }

    newStudent.avgMarks = calculate_avg(newStudent.arrayMarks,NO_OF_TEST );
    newStudent.courseGrade = calculate_grade (newStudent.avgMarks);

}

Answer 1

Here is an edited version of your code which is based on ISO C++ and which works well with G++:

#include <string.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#define NO_OF_TEST 1

struct studentType {
    string studentID;
    string firstName;
    string lastName;
    string subjectName;
    string courseGrade;
    int arrayMarks[4];
    double avgMarks;
};

studentType input() {
    studentType newStudent;
    cout << "\nPlease enter student information:\n";

    cout << "\nFirst Name: ";
    cin >> newStudent.firstName;

    cout << "\nLast Name: ";
    cin >> newStudent.lastName;

    cout << "\nStudent ID: ";
    cin >> newStudent.studentID;

    cout << "\nSubject Name: ";
    cin >> newStudent.subjectName;

    for (int i = 0; i < NO_OF_TEST; i++) {
        cout << "\nTest " << i+1 << " mark: ";
        cin >> newStudent.arrayMarks[i];
    }

    return newStudent;
}

int main() {
    studentType s;
    s = input();

    cout <<"\n========"<< endl << "Collected the details of "
        << s.firstName << endl;

    return 0;
}

Answer 2

You have a scope problem. Define the struct before the function, not inside it.

Answer 3

studentType newStudent() // studentType doesn't exist here
{   
    struct studentType // it only exists within the function
    {
        string studentID;
        string firstName;
        string lastName;
        string subjectName;
        string courseGrade;

        int arrayMarks[4];

        double avgMarks;

    } newStudent;
...

Move it outside the function:

struct studentType
{
    string studentID;
    string firstName;
    string lastName;
    string subjectName;
    string courseGrade;

    int arrayMarks[4];

    double avgMarks;

};

studentType newStudent()
{
    studentType newStudent
    ...
    return newStudent;
}

Answer 4

You can now (C++14) return a locally-defined (ie defined inside the function) as follows:

auto f()
{
    struct S
    {
      int a;
      double b;
    } s;
    s.a = 42;
    s.b = 42.0;
    return s;
}

auto x = f();
a = x.a;
b = x.b;

Answer 5

As pointed out by others, define studentType outside the function. One more thing, even if you do that, do not create a local studentType instance inside the function. The instance is on the function stack and will not be available when you try to return it. One thing you can however do is create studentType dynamically and return the pointer to it outside the function.