array of structures

[bob123]

All - I have two 2d structures (simplified version is below) and I need some advice.

struct example{
          int example_number;
          string example_txt;
          }

	example[] = {
		{0,"xyz"},
		{1,"aaa"},
		{0,"xxx"},
	};
	const size_t nexample = sizeof example / sizeof example[0];

    struct other{
          string first;
          string second;
          }

	other[] = {
		{"ffffff", "jjjjjjjj"},
		{"cccccc", "dddddd"},
		{"bbbb", "aaaaa"},
	};
	const size_t nother = sizeof other / sizeof other[0];

	srand(static_cast<unsigned>(time(0)));

    int a = 0;
    a = rand() % nexample;

	cout << example[a].example.txt << "\n";
	cout << other[rand() % nother].first << "\n";

but what I really want to do is use variable a to return 1 or 0 from example and feed it into the cout

cout << other[rand() % nother]. 1 or 0 from exmple << "\n";

rather than using first or second.

I can do it with an if but I assume there is a better way

thanks for your help


bob

[S6k9GNh0]

You lost me. Please try and explain more clearly.

[shacktar]

So, what you want is a better way of doing the following, correct?

int val = getValue(); //either 0 or 1

if(val == 0)
{
   cout<<other[rand() % nother].first;
}
else
{
   cout<<other[rand() % nother].second;
}

You could use an array.

struct other
{
   string stringArr[2];
}

Also, rename the array here to something besides "example" (and the same for the array "other"):

struct example{
          int example_number;
          string example_txt;
          }

	example[] = {
		{0,"xyz"},
		{1,"aaa"},
		{0,"xxx"},
	};

because you can't instantiate a struct of type "example" after that statement.