structure hierarchy

Example by: Ira Oldham, References: Savitch eighth edition, section 10.1; Gaddis seventh edition, section 11.6

A data type within a structure definition may be another structure.

1  struct Date
2  {
3    int day;
4    int month;
5    int year;
6  };
7  struct Person
8  {
9    Date dateOfBirth;
10   Date dateOfHire;
11 };
12 Person franklin;
13 franklin.dateOfBirth.year = 1706;

• lines 1-6 Date structure definition
• lines 7-11 Person structure definition, which contains Date members
• line 12 franklin structure variable
• line 13 Use of franklin variable with dot before dateOfBirth member in Person, and another dot before year in Date

When you access a member, you must put a dot before the member name. If you have a data structure within a data structure, you need a dot before the member name, and then another dot before the subordinate structure's member name.