C - Why can't you compare two structs?

Question

It fails at ==

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
typedef struct {char ch;} st;
st s1 = {'c'};
st s2 = s1;
if(s1 == s2)
printf("successful");
return 0;
}

Answer 1

I believe the addresses are different.
So the test written would fail.

Answer 2

You can't compare structs because the language doesn't know how to. Structs are objects you build yourself, which can become pretty complex, especially when pointers are involved, meaning a lot of choices are involved when attempting to generalize such an operation, which the language doesn't want to do, I guess. The only reason you can compare class instances in C++ in the first place is due to operator overloading, a concept that does not exist in C. For some additional reasons, see:

https://www.quora.com/Why-cant-I-directly-compare-two-structure-types-variables-in-C

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7179174/why-doesnt-c-provide-struct-comparison

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5740310/no-operator-found-while-comparing-structs-in-c

Answer 3

The if statement should be like this
if(s1.ch == s2.ch)

Since there can be one or more members inside structure, so you need to identify that which member of the structure you want to compare.

Answer 4

here is what I found as a possible solution to your query but not as to why you can't but possibly as to how you can:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/41548096/7218253