initialize a struct array in c

Question

Can I initialize a stuct in C in the following way:

struct database {
  char* Name;
  char* Title;
  char* DOB;
  int EmployeeNo;
} people[100];

people[0] = { "Jon", "Manager", "1-1-1990", 12345 };
people[1] = { "Bob", "Accountant", "1-1-1990", 54321 };

I am using gcc version 9.2.1 20191130 (Debian 9.2.1-21)

Answer 1

No, the correct way is:

struct database {
  char* Name;
  char* Title;
  char* DOB;
  int EmployeeNo;
} people[100]={ { "Jon", "Manager", "1-1-1990", 12345 },
                { "Bob", "Accountant", "1-1-1990", 54321 }
              };

This is usable in C89, C90, C94, C99, C11, C17 — and pre-standard C if the initialization is done at file scope.

Answer 2

No, do it like this:

struct database {
    char* Name;
    char* Title;
    char* DOB;
    int EmployeeNo;
};

struct database ppl[5] = {
    { .Name = "Jon",  .Title = "Manager", .DOB = "1-1-1990", .EmployeeNo = 12345 },
    { .Name = "Ravi", .Title = "Manager", .DOB = "1-1-1990", .EmployeeNo = 12345 },
    {.....},
    {.....},
    {.....},
};

Initialization and definition must be done at the same time — otherwise, you're assigning, not initializing.

Answer 3

Can I initialize a stuct in C in the following way:

Not quite.
There are other ways to initialize as provided by other answers.
You can assign within a function with a compound literal.

people[0] = 
    (struct database){ "Jon", "Manager", "1-1-1990", 12345 };
people[1] = 
    (struct database){ "Bob", "Accountant", "1-1-1990", 54321 };