c - How to initialize const members of structs on the heap

Question

I would like to allocate a structure on the heap, initialize it and return a pointer to it from a function. I'm wondering if there's a way for me to initialize const members of a struct in this scenario:

#include <stdlib.h>

typedef struct {
  const int x;
  const int y;
} ImmutablePoint;

ImmutablePoint * make_immutable_point(int x, int y)
{
  ImmutablePoint *p = (ImmutablePoint *)malloc(sizeof(ImmutablePoint));
  if (p == NULL) abort();
  // How to initialize members x and y?
  return p;
}

Should I conclude from this that it is impossible to allocate and initialize a struct on the heap which contains const members?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2219001/how-to-initialize-const-members-of-structs-on-the-heap

Answer 1

Like so:

ImmutablePoint *make_immutable_point(int x, int y)
{
  ImmutablePoint init = { .x = x, .y = y };
  ImmutablePoint *p = malloc(sizeof *p);

  if (p == NULL) abort();
  memcpy(p, &init, sizeof *p);

  return p;
}

(Note that unlike C++, there is no need to cast the return value of malloc in C, and it is often considered bad form because it can hide other errors).