Question

typedef struct DictionaryEntry_s {
    char *key;
    char *value;
} DictionaryEntry;

typedef struct Dictionary_s {
    char *name;
    DictionaryEntry values[0];
} Dictionary;

//How can I do the following:
Dictionary myDictionary[] = { 
    {"synonyms",
        {"good", "cool"},
        {"bad", "evil"},
        {"awesome", "me"},
        {"like", "love"}, //etc....
        {0} //terminator
    },
    {"antonyms",
        {"good", "evil"},
        {"bad", "good"},
        {"awesome", "not me"}, ///...etc
        {0} //terminator
    },
    {0} //terminator
};

As you can see in the code, I want to create a statically allocated but dynamically sized array. I know how to loop through the data, its just that the compiler barfs at the declaration. While I am looking for a C solution, bonus points for C++ in addition.

Thanks!

Answer 1

C solution requires extra variables for defining internal arrays:

typedef struct DictionaryEntry_s {
    char *key;
    char *value;
} DictionaryEntry;

typedef struct Dictionary_s {
    char *name;
    DictionaryEntry* values;
} Dictionary;

//How can I do the following:
DictionaryEntry myDictionary0[] = {
        {"good", "cool"},
        {"bad", "evil"},
        {"awesome", "me"},
        {"like", "love"}, //etc....
        {0} //terminator
};
Dictionary myDictionary[] = { 
    {"synonyms", myDictionary0},
    // ...
    {0} //terminator
}; // <-- semicolon was missing here

C++ solution – requires std::vector<> – however it is not statically allocated, but dynamically, and it does not requires terminator:

struct DictionaryEntry {
    char *key;
    char *value;
};

struct Dictionary {
    char *name;
    std::vector<DictionaryEntry> values;
};

//How can I do the following:
Dictionary myDictionary[] = { 
    {"synonyms",
      {
        {"good", "cool"},
        {"bad", "evil"},
        {"awesome", "me"},
        {"like", "love"}, //etc....
        {0} //terminator
      } 
    },
    //...
    {0} //terminator
}; // <-- semicolon was missing here