Generate nested constant arrays in C at compile time

Question

I'm trying to generate a large constant lookup table at compile time in C (C99), and each entry to the lookup table has a pointer to another const array. I'd like to be able to build all of these arrays all at once, but this isn't possible because a brace initialiser can't be used for a pointer. Is there some preprocessor macro or other trick I can use to define "anonymous" arrays or something similar so that I can include them in a nested data structure?

I've created an example below, showing what I am currently doing, and also what I am trying to do.

typedef enum {
    RED = 0,
    GREEN,
    BLUE,
    PURPLE,
    YELLOW
} colours_t;

typedef struct {
    const char *name;

    const size_t number_of_preferences;
    const colours_t *ordered_preferences;
} colour_preferences_t;


// this way works, but is tedious
const colours_t bob_preferences[] = {RED, GREEN};
const colours_t alice_preferences[] = {BLUE, PURPLE, YELLOW};
const colours_t eve_preferences[] = {YELLOW, RED};

const colour_preferences_t array_of_preferences[3] = {
        {"Bob", 2, bob_preferences},
        {"Alice", 3, alice_preferences},
        {"Eve", 2, eve_preferences}
};


// this is how I'd like to do it (but it isn't valid)
const colour_preferences_t array_of_preferences_invalid[3] = {
        {"Bob", 2, {RED, GREEN}},
        {"Alice", 3, {BLUE, PURPLE, YELLOW}},
        {"Eve", 1, {YELLOW, RED}},
};

---

Update: Thanks to the answers below, I have worked out a solution. And using a varadic macro, I can even drop typing out the size explicitly:

#define PREFERENCE_LIST(...) sizeof((colours_t[]) { __VA_ARGS__ })/sizeof(colours_t), (colours_t[]){ __VA_ARGS__ }

const colour_preferences_t array_of_preferences_short[3] = {
        {"Bob", PREFERENCE_LIST(RED, GREEN)},
        {"Alice", PREFERENCE_LIST(BLUE, PURPLE, YELLOW)},
        {"Eve", PREFERENCE_LIST(YELLOW, RED)}
};

Answer 1

you need to create the object, and pointer to this object has to be the initializer of this field. You can archive it by using the compound literals

const colour_preferences_t array_of_preferences_invalid[3] = {
        {"Bob", 2, ( const colours_t[]){RED, GREEN}},
        {"Alice", 3,  (const colours_t[]){BLUE, PURPLE, YELLOW}},
        {"Eve", 1, (const colours_t[]){YELLOW, RED}},
};

Answer 2

It should work using a compound literal like this:

const colour_preferences_t array_of_preferences_invalid[3] = {
        {"Bob", 2, (colours_t[]){RED, GREEN}},
        {"Alice", 3, (colours_t[]){BLUE, PURPLE, YELLOW}},
        {"Eve", 1, (colours_t[]){YELLOW, RED}},
};

You can read the details about compound literals here