How to assign value to a struct with bit-fields?

Question

I have a struct with bit-fields (totally 32 bit width) and I have a 32-bit variable. When I try to assign the variable value to my struct, I got an error:

Answer 1

Use a union.

union foo {
    struct {
        uint8_t a : 4;
        uint8_t b : 4;
        uint8_t c : 4;
        uint8_t d : 4;
        uint16_t e;
    };
    uint32_t allfields;
};

int main(void) {
    union foo a;

    a.allfields = 0;
    a.b = 3;

    return 0;
}