expected expression before 'struct' on c

Question

I tried to make a userdata where it's declared as a struct. I tried to use scanf, but everytime i tried to compile it always says "expected expression before 'userdata'.

Anyone know how to fix this? Thank you

Here's my code:

#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct { char name[30]; char age[2]; char country[10]; char date[40];

} userdata;

int main() 
{ 
printf("Please input your name: \n");
scanf("%c", &userdata.name); 
printf("Please input your age: \n"); 
scanf("%c", &userdata.age); 
printf("Which country are you from: \n"); 
scanf("%c", &userdata.country); printf("Please tell me the date of your birth in number format (00 - 00 - 0000)\n"); 
scanf("%c", &userdata.date);


printf("Here's your userdata: \n");
printf("Name : %c\n", userdata.name);
printf("Age : %c\n", userdata.age);
printf("Country : %c\n", userdata.country);
printf("Date of birth : %c\n", userdata.date);

return 0; 
}

Answer 1

You created a type called userdata so now you need to declare an instance of the type to use it:

userdata u;

then you pass the address of the instance:

scanf("%c", &u.name); 

Answer 2

By using the typedef keyword, you've declared userdata as a type alias for a struct. It's not a variable name.

If you remove the typedef keyword, you'll declare a variable with that name.

Also, you need to use the %s format specifier to read and write strings. The %c format specifier is used for single characters. Also, since strings are terminated by a null byte, the age member of your struct should be longer.

Answer 3

You are trying to assign a value to a TYPE, not a variable. When you define typedef, you do not create a variable, you create an alias for the type.

Let's say you have the int type, but you don't like it being called int. Then you can do typedef and name the type int as you want:

typedef int MyType; // Create an alias for an int type

You do NOT create a variable of this type.

Your solution is to create a variable of userdata and set it to:

userdata data;
scanf("%s", &data.name); 

In addition, as @dbush rightly noted, you need to use the %s specifier to read strings: the %c specifier is used only for single characters.