Difference between -> and . in a struct?

Question

If I have a struct like

struct account {
   int account_number;
};

Then what\'s the difference between doing

myAccount.acco         


        

Answer 1

You use . when you're dealing with variables. You use -> when you are dealing with pointers.

For example:

struct account {
   int account_number;
};

Declare a new variable of type struct account:

struct account s;
...
// initializing the variable
s.account_number = 1;

Declare a as a pointer to struct account:

struct account *a;
...
// initializing the variable
a = &some_account;  // point the pointer to some_account
a->account_number = 1; // modifying the value of account_number

Using a->account_number = 1; is an alternate syntax for (*a).account_number = 1;

I hope this helps.