typedef fixed length array

I have to define a 24-bit data type.I am using char[3] to represent the type. Can I typedef char[3] to type24? I tried it in a code sample. I put typedef char[3] type24; in my header file. The compiler did not complain about it. But when I defined a function void foo(type24 val) {} in my C file, it did complain. I would like to be able to define functions like type24_to_int32(type24 val) instead of type24_to_int32(char value[3]).

Solution 1:

The typedef would be

typedef char type24[3];

However, this is probably a very bad idea, because the resulting type is an array type, but users of it won't see that it's an array type. If used as a function argument, it will be passed by reference, not by value, and the sizeof for it will then be wrong.

A better solution would be

typedef struct type24 { char x[3]; } type24;

You probably also want to be using unsigned char instead of char, since the latter has implementation-defined signedness.

Solution 2:

You want

typedef char type24[3];

C type declarations are strange that way. You put the type exactly where the variable name would go if you were declaring a variable of that type.