how to assign multiple values into a struct at once?

Question

I can do this on initialization for a struct Foo:

Foo foo =  {bunch, of, things, initialized};

but, I can\'t do this:

Foo f         


        

Answer 1

If you don't care too much about efficiency, you could double assign: i.e. create a new instance of the structure using aggregate initialization, and then copy it over:

struct Foo foo;

{
  struct Foo __tmp__ = {bunch, of, things, initialized};
  foo = __tmp__;
}

Make sure you keep the portion wrapped in {}s so as to discard the unnecessary temporary variable as soon as it's no longer necessary.

Note this isn't as efficient as making, e.g., a 'set' function in the struct (if c++) or out of the struct, accepting a struct pointer (if C). But if you need a quick, preferably temporary, alternative to writing element-by-element assignment, this might do.