Struct Inheritance in C

Question

Can I inherit a structure in C? If yes, how?

Answer 1

If you want to use some gcc magic (that I would assume would work with Microsoft's C compiler) you can do something like:

struct A
{
   int member1;
};

struct B
{
   struct A;
   int member2;
}

With gcc you can compile this with -fms-extensions (Allows for unnamed struct members like Microsofts compiler does). This is similar to the solution given by Daniel Earwicker except that it allows you to access memeber1 on a struct B instance. i.e B.member1 instead of B.A.member1.

This is probably not the most portable approach and will not work if using a C++ compiler (different language semantics mean that it is redeclaring/defining struct A instead of instantiating it).

If however you live in the gcc/C land only it will work and do exactly what you want.