expected ';' at end of declaration list c when i have one already

Question

Im trying to declare and array in a structure called bread, but it keeps giving me the error expected ';' at end of declaration list when i already have one.

typedef struct
{
   char bread[9][35] = {
   "1. 9-Grain Wheat", 
   "2. 9-Grain Honey Oat", 
   "3. Italian", 
   "4. Italian Herbs & Cheese",
   "5. Flatbread (not baked in restaurant)", 
   "6. Cheese Bread", 
   "7. Hearty Italian", 
   "8. Parmesan Oregano", 
   "9. Roasted Garlic" };        
} subway;

this is the contents of the header file the structure is in

Please post the whole code, this snippet by it's own could not possible reproduce the issue. [Post a minimal example that reproduces the problem, or a MCVE](http://stackoverflow/help/mcve). — Iharob Al Asimi, Jan 13 '16 at 14:09
Initialisers in C have to go after the definition of an object, not inside a type definition. Anyway, if the strings are constant, better use a `const char *bread[]`. — too honest for this site, Jan 13 '16 at 14:17
`"5. Flatbread (not baked in restaurant)"` is too big for `char bread[9][35]`. It's 39 char's in size (38 + terminating nul character) — Elias Van Ootegem, Jan 13 '16 at 14:42

dbush · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-13T14:27:45.357

You can't initialize a structure in a typedef. You have to do it when you define a variable of that type:

typedef struct
{
   char bread[9][50];   // the longest string is 38 characters, so the second dimension 
                        // should be at least 39 (38 plus the null terminating byte)
                        // we'll round up to 50 to leave space for expansion
} subway;

subway s = {{
   "1. 9-Grain Wheat",
   "2. 9-Grain Honey Oat",
   "3. Italian",
   "4. Italian Herbs & Cheese",
   "5. Flatbread (not baked in restaurant)",
   "6. Cheese Bread",
   "7. Hearty Italian",
   "8. Parmesan Oregano",
   "9. Roasted Garlic"
}};

Lundin · Answer 2 · 2016-01-13T14:21:35.903

3

A typedef is a type definition, it is not a variable declaration. It does not make any sense to initialize a type.

You should be doing this:

typedef struct
{
   char bread[9][LARGE_ENOUGH];
} subway_t;

...

subway_t sub = { /* initialization */ };

edited Jan 13 '16 at 14:21

answered Jan 13 '16 at 14:17

Lundin

195,001
40
254
396

There is absolutely no need to change the type name to `subway_t`. – Iharob Al Asimi Jan 13 '16 at 14:22
@iharob Personal preference. You can call it `metro` for all I care :) – Lundin Jan 13 '16 at 14:23

Danny_ds · Answer 3 · 2016-01-13T14:34:51.097

1

Your strings are too long - turn on compiler warnings (highest level)

'bread' : array bounds overflow

Try

char bread[9][40] = {

instead.

Updated question:

No need to put that single array inside a struct. If you really need to use this inside a typedef, only use char bread[9][40];, and initialize the array outside the typedef:

typedef struct
{
   char bread[9][40];
} subway;

subway mySubway = { /* initialize strings here */ };

edited Jan 13 '16 at 14:34

answered Jan 13 '16 at 14:10

Danny_ds

11,201
1
24
46

4

While this seems to be true, it's not what the OP is asking about. Could you put this as a comment? – Iharob Al Asimi Jan 13 '16 at 14:11

score -2 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 13 '16 at 14:17

-2

Your initialization is false : you're trying to initialize a char [][] with a (char *) []. you should use strncpy to initilize such an array

answered Jan 13 '16 at 14:17

gRRosminet

137
1
8

1

Initialization is not done with strcpy functions... and this is not the problem here... and [`strncpy` is a dangerous function that should not be used](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2114896/why-are-strlcpy-and-strlcat-considered-insecure).. and there is no `char(*)[]` in the code... – Lundin Jan 13 '16 at 14:19

expected ';' at end of declaration list c when i have one already

4 Answers4