Size of structure with a char, a double, an int an

Question

This question already has an answer here:

• Why isn't sizeof for a struct equal to the sum of sizeof of each member? 11 answers

When I run only the code fragment

int *t;
std::cout << sizeof(char)   << std::endl;
std::cout << sizeof(double) << std::endl;
std::cout << sizeof(int)    << std::endl;
std::cout << sizeof(t)      << std::endl;

it gives me a result like this:

1
8
4
4

Total: 17.

But when I test sizeof struct which contains these data types it gives me 24, and I am confused. What are the additional 7 bytes?

This is the code

#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
struct struct_type{
    int i;
    char ch;
    int *p;
    double d;
} s;

int main(){
    int *t;
    //std::cout << sizeof(char)   <<std::endl;
    //std::cout << sizeof(double) <<std::endl;
    //std::cout << sizeof(int)    <<std::endl;
    //std::cout << sizeof(t)      <<std::endl;

    printf("s_type is %d byes long",sizeof(struct struct_type));

    return 0;
}

:EDIT

I have updated my code like this

#include <iostream>
#include <stdio.h>
struct struct_type{
    double d_attribute;
    int i__attribute__(int(packed));
    int * p__attribute_(int(packed));;
    char  ch;
} s;

int main(){
    int *t;
    //std::cout<<sizeof(char)<<std::endl;
    //std::cout<<sizeof(double)<<std::endl;
    //std::cout<<sizeof(int)<<std::endl;
    //std::cout<<sizeof(t)<<std::endl;

    printf("s_type is %d bytes long",sizeof(s));

    return 0;
}

and now it shows me 16 bytes. Is it good, or have I lost some important bytes?

Answer 1

The additional size comes from data alignment, i.e. the members are aligned to multiples 4 or 8 bytes.

Your compiler probably aligns int and pointers to multiples for 4 bytes and the double to multiples for 8 bytes.

If you move the double to a different position within the struct, you might be able to reduce the size of the struct from 24 to 20 bytes. But it depends on the compiler.

Answer 2

There is some unused bytes between some members to keep the alignments correct. For example, a pointer by default reside on 4-byte boundaries for efficiency, i.e. its address must be a multiple of 4. If the struct contains only a char and a pointer

struct {
  char a;
  void* b;
};

then b cannot use the adderss #1 — it must be placed at #4.

  0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7
+---+- - - - - -+---------------+
| a | (unused)  | b             |
+---+- - - - - -+---------------+

In your case, the extra 7 bytes comes from 3 bytes due to alignment of int*, and 4 bytes due to alignment of double.

  0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   a   b   c   d   e   f
+---------------+---+- - - - - -+---------------+- - - - - - - -+
| i             |ch |           | p             |               |
+---------------+---+- - - - - -+---------------+- - - - - - - -+
 10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17
+-------------------------------+
| d                             |
+-------------------------------+

Answer 3

See comp.lang.c FAQ list · Question 2.12:

Why is my compiler leaving holes in structures, wasting space and preventing ``binary'' I/O to external data files? Can I turn this off, or otherwise control the alignment of structure fields?