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59<p>
60Next: <a href="Bit-Fields.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Bit Fields</a>, Previous: <a href="Structure-Layout.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Structure Layout</a>, Up: <a href="Structures.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Structures</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Symbol-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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63<span id="Packed-Structures-1"></span><h3 class="section">15.5 Packed Structures</h3>
64<span id="index-packed-structures"></span>
65<span id="index-_005f_005fattribute_005f_005f_0028_0028packed_0029_0029"></span>
66
67<p>In GNU C you can force a structure to be laid out with no gaps by
68adding <code>__attribute__((packed))</code> after <code>struct</code> (or at the
69end of the structure type declaration). Here&rsquo;s an example:
70</p>
71<div class="example">
72<pre class="example">struct __attribute__((packed)) foo
73{
74 char a;
75 int c;
76 char b;
77};
78</pre></div>
79
80<p>Without <code>__attribute__((packed))</code>, this structure occupies 12
81bytes (as described in the previous section), assuming 4-byte
82alignment for <code>int</code>. With <code>__attribute__((packed))</code>, it is
83only 6 bytes long&mdash;the sum of the lengths of its fields.
84</p>
85<p>Use of <code>__attribute__((packed))</code> often results in fields that
86don&rsquo;t have the normal alignment for their types. Taking the address
87of such a field can result in an invalid pointer because of its
88improper alignment. Dereferencing such a pointer can cause a
89<code>SIGSEGV</code> signal on a machine that doesn&rsquo;t, in general, allow
90unaligned pointers.
91</p>
92<p>See <a href="Attributes.html">Attributes</a>.
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