Return a `struct` from a function in C

As far as I can remember, the first versions of C only allowed to return a value that could fit into a processor register, which means that you could only return a pointer to a struct. The same restriction applied to function arguments.

More recent versions allow to pass around larger data objects like structs. I think this feature was already common during the eighties or early nineties.

Arrays, however, can still be passed and returned only as pointers.

You can return a structure from a function (or use the = operator) without any problems. It's a well-defined part of the language. The only problem with struct b = a is that you didn't provide a complete type. struct MyObj b = a will work just fine. You can pass structures to functions as well - a structure is exactly the same as any built-in type for purposes of parameter passing, return values, and assignment.

Here's a simple demonstration program that does all three - passes a structure as a parameter, returns a structure from a function, and uses structures in assignment statements:

#include <stdio.h>

struct a {
   int i;
};

struct a f(struct a x)
{
   struct a r = x;
   return r;
}

int main(void)
{
   struct a x = { 12 };
   struct a y = f(x);
   printf("%d\n", y.i);
   return 0;
}

The next example is pretty much exactly the same, but uses the built-in int type for demonstration purposes. The two programs have the same behaviour with respect to pass-by-value for parameter passing, assignment, etc.:

#include <stdio.h>

int f(int x) 
{
  int r = x;
  return r;
}

int main(void)
{
  int x = 12;
  int y = f(x);
  printf("%d\n", y);
  return 0;
}

When making a call such as a = foo();, the compiler might push the address of the result structure on the stack and passes it as a "hidden" pointer to the foo() function. Effectively, it could become something like:

void foo(MyObj *r) {
    struct MyObj a;
    // ...
    *r = a;
}

foo(&a);

However, the exact implementation of this is dependent on the compiler and/or platform. As Carl Norum notes, if the structure is small enough, it might even be passed back completely in a register.

The struct b line doesn't work because it's a syntax error. If you expand it out to include the type it will work just fine

struct MyObj b = a;  // Runs fine

What C is doing here is essentially a memcpy from the source struct to the destination. This is true for both assignment and return of struct values (and really every other value in C)