What’s the difference between using typedef struct and a regular struct definition in C?

General Discussions
,
1

As a C beginner, I’m trying to understand why one might use typedef struct instead of a plain struct declaration. Do both approaches serve the same purpose, or does using typedef struct offer a practical benefit in how you reference the structure later in your code?

2

Great question! When I was learning C, I used to wonder the same thing. The key difference is mostly about convenience. With a regular struct, you have to keep repeating the keyword every time you declare a variable:

struct Person {
    char name[50];
    int age;
};

struct Person p1; But if you use typedef struct, you can give it an alias and drop the struct keyword:

typedef struct {
    char name[50];
    int age;
} P

erson;

Person p1; So, it’s not a huge functional difference, it just makes your code cleaner and easier to write, especially when you’re using a lot of structs.

3

I usually go with typedef struct for readability. It simplifies things in larger codebases.

Imagine you have nested structs or pass them around in function signatures, having to write struct MyType every time gets tedious. typedef just lets you skip that and treat it like any other type:

typedef struct MyStruct {
    int x;
    int y;
} MyStruct;

Then you can use MyStruct directly, way easier on the eyes and hands. But technically, both versions work the same under the hood.

4

Honestly, it depends on your coding style and whether you’re trying to follow a naming convention. Some teams I’ve worked with prefer sticking to struct MyType so it’s explicitly clear it’s a struct, which helps for clarity in large codebases. Others like the cleaner look of typedef struct so you can write MyType like any other type.

So no major functional difference, just a matter of how you want to reference the structure later. I tend to use typedef unless there’s a specific reason not to.