C Enumerations

C enumerations

Created By: chatGPT

Enumerations in C are a user-defined type that consists of a set of named integral constants. This helps increase code readability and maintainability by replacing numerical constants with meaningful names.

enum Color {
    RED,
    GREEN,
    BLUE
};

You can also assign specific values to the enumerators. If you don't assign a value, the first enumerator starts at 0 and each subsequent enumerator gets the next integer value.

enum Position {
    LEFT = 1,
    CENTER = 5,
    RIGHT
}; // RIGHT will have the value 6

To use an enum, declare a variable of the enum type. You can then assign it one of the defined enumerators.

enum Color myColor;
myColor = RED;

Important: Enums are not strictly type-checked like other types, so you can assign an integer directly to an enum variable, but it's generally discouraged.

myColor = 4; // This is permitted but not recommended

You can also add functionality to your enumerations by utilizing them in switch statements, allowing you to handle various cases in a clear and organized manner.

switch (myColor) {
    case RED:
        printf("Color is red\n");
        break;
    case GREEN:
        printf("Color is green\n");
        break;
    case BLUE:
        printf("Color is blue\n");
        break;
    default:
        printf("Unknown color\n");
}