Question

Are the following equivalent in C?

// #1
struct myStruct {
    int id;
    char value;
};

typedef struct myStruct Foo;

// #2
typedef struct {
    int id;
    char value;
} Foo;

If not, which one should I use and when?

(Yes, I have seen this and this.)

Answer 1

No, they’re not exactly equivalent.

In the first version Foo is a typedef for the named struct myStruct.

In the second version, Foo is a typedef for an unnamed struct.

Although both Foo can be used in the same way in many instances there are important differences. In particular, the second version doesn’t allow the use of a forward declaration to declare Foo and the struct it is a typedef for whereas the first would.