A struct & bitprecising question

[andre104]

Found this from the FreePascal board ...

Code: [Select]

#include <stdio.h>

struct bitprecising {
char ch : 8;
int n : 2;
long l : 3;
};

int main(){
struct bitprecising x;
struct bitprecising *p;

p = &x;
(*p).ch = 'a';
(*p).n = 1;
(*p).l = 2L;

printf("x.ch = %c\n",x.ch);
printf("x.n = %d\n",x.n);
printf("x.l = %ld\n",x.l);

return 0;
}

What does that struct do ? And BTW, what is this bitprecising stuff ?

[frankie]

The forum user is simply asking if it's possible to define "bit fields" in pascal structures as in C.
The code you posted is a sample for a C bit_fields structure.
The bit_field is a structure member which bit width is specified by user. In the sample above the member 'a' is of type char and its width is set to 8 bits, then you have an integer 'n' made of 2 bits and a long 'l' composed of 3 bits. In this case the compiler will pack together the bits in a DWORD multiples.
In our case the whole structure will fit in a single double word, where bit 0 to bit 7 will host the char 'a', bit 8 to bit 9 will host an integer, bit 10 to bit 12 will host a long and the remaining bits are unused.
The compiler automatically extract and reinsert correct bits when you use them in your code.

For more info google "C language bit field"