Comparion of Union vs Structures in C

Union vs Structures

Below is a detailed comparison table of the differences between union and structure in C:

	Union	Structure
Memory allocation	Allocates memory space for the largest member.	Allocates memory space for each member.
Data storage	Can hold only one member at a time.	Can hold multiple members at a time.
Size of the data structure	Size is equal to the largest member.	Size is the sum of the sizes of all the members.
Accessing members	Members can be accessed only one at a time.	Members can be accessed individually or together.
Overwriting values	Writing a value to one member will overwrite the values of other members.	Writing a value to one member does not affect the values of other members.

Uses of Union

• Storing multiple types of data in a single variable.
• Reducing memory usage in certain cases.
• Type punning (e.g., accessing the same memory as different types).
• Implementing variant types or tagged unions.

Uses of Structure

• Organizing related data.
• Storing a collection of data of different types.
• Defining complex data structures.
• Implementing classes in C using function pointers.