How do I use typedef and typedef enum in C?

Question

Consider:

#define MAXROW 20
#define MAXCOL 60
typedef State Grid[MAXROW+2] [MAXCOL+2]
typedef enum state {DEAD,ALIVE} State

How do I use typedef and typedef enum in C? What does this part of the code do?

Answer 1

typedef enum state {DEAD,ALIVE} State;
|     | |                     | |   |^ terminating semicolon, required! 
|     | |   type specifier    | |   |
|     | |                     | ^^^^^  declarator (simple name)
|     | |                     |    
|     | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
|     |
^^^^^^^-- storage class specifier (in this case typedef)

The typedef keyword is a pseudo-storage-class specifier. Syntactically, it is used in the same place where a storage class specifier like extern or static is used. It doesn't have anything to do with storage. It means that the declaration doesn't introduce the existence of named objects , but rather, it introduces names which are type aliases .

After the above declaration, the State identifier becomes an alias for the type enum state {DEAD,ALIVE} . The declaration also provides that type itself. However that isn't typedef doing it. Any declaration in which enum state {DEAD,ALIVE} appears as a type specifier introduces that type into the scope:

enum state {DEAD, ALIVE} stateVariable;

If enum state has previously been introduced the typedef has to be written like this:

typedef enum state State;

otherwise the enum is being redefined, which is an error.

Like other declarations (except function parameter declarations), the typedef declaration can have multiple declarators, separated by a comma. Moreover, they can be derived declarators, not only simple names:

typedef unsigned long ulong, *ulongptr;
|     | |           | |  1 | |   2   |
|     | |           | |    | ^^^^^^^^^--- "pointer to" declarator
|     | |           | ^^^^^^------------- simple declarator
|     | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^-------------------- specifier-qualifier list
^^^^^^^---------------------------------- storage class specifier

This typedef introduces two type names ulong and ulongptr , based on the unsigned long type given in the specifier-qualifier list. ulong is just a straight alias for that type. ulongptr is declared as a pointer to unsigned long , thanks to the * syntax, which in this role is a kind of type construction operator which deliberately mimics the unary * for pointer dereferencing used in expressions. In other words ulongptr is an alias for the "pointer to unsigned long " type.

Alias means that ulongptr is not a distinct type from unsigned long * . This is valid code, requiring no diagnostic:

unsigned long *p = 0;
ulongptr q = p;

The variables q and p have exactly the same type.

The aliasing of typedef isn't textual. For instance if user_id_t is a typedef name for the type int , we may not simply do this:

unsigned user_id_t uid;  // error! programmer hoped for "unsigned int uid". 

This is an invalid type specifier list, combining unsigned with a typedef name. The above can be done using the C preprocessor:

#define user_id_t int
unsigned user_id_t uid;

whereby user_id_t is macro-expanded to the token int prior to syntax analysis and translation. While this may seem like an advantage, it is a false one; avoid this in new programs.

Among the disadvantages that it doesn't work well for derived types:

 #define silly_macro int *

 silly_macro not, what, you, think;

This declaration doesn't declare what , you and think as being of type "pointer to int" because the macro-expansion is:

 int * not, what, you, think;

The type specifier is int , and the declarators are *not , what , you and think . So not has the expected pointer type, but the remaining identifiers do not.

And that's probably 99% of everything about typedef and type aliasing in C.

Answer 2

typedef defines a new data type. So you can have:

typedef char* my_string;
typedef struct{
  int member1;
  int member2;
} my_struct;

So now you can declare variables with these new data types

my_string s;
my_struct x;

s = "welcome";
x.member1 = 10;

For enum , things are a bit different - consider the following examples:

enum Ranks {FIRST, SECOND};
int main()
{
   int data = 20;
   if (data == FIRST)
   {
      //do something
   }
}

using typedef enum creates an alias for a type:

typedef enum Ranks {FIRST, SECOND} Order;
int main()
{
   Order data = (Order)20;  // Must cast to defined type to prevent error

   if (data == FIRST)
   {
      //do something
   }
}

Answer 3

A typedef , is just an alias -

• "typedef is a reserved keyword in the programming languages C and C++. It is used to create an additional name ( alias ) for another data type, but does not create a new type" ( Wiki )

• "the typedef declaration provides a way to declare an identifier as a type alias , to be used to replace a possibly complex type name" ( cppreference )