Data Structure for phone book [duplicate]

Answer 1

In C, I think a struct is the best option.

typedef struct _Contact Contact;

struct _Contact
{
    char* name;
    char* number;
    char* address;
};

Contact* add_new_contact( char* name, char* number, char* address )
{
    Contact* c = (Contact*) malloc( sizeof( Contact ) );
    c->name = name;
    c->number = number;
    c->address = address;
    return c;
}

Contact* phone_book [ 20 ];  /* An array of Contacts */

Use the standard string functions ( or if using a C++ compiler, ) or something like the glib for searching the names, numbers etc.

Here's a simple example:

Contact* search_for_number( Contact* phone_book[], const char* number )
{
    register int i;
    for( i = 0; i < sizeof( phone_book ); i++)
    {
       if ( strcmp( phone_book[i]->number, number ) == 0 ) return phone_book[i];
    }
    return NULL;
}

There is also a good, helpful code example over here.

Alternatively

You may be able to use linked lists, but since C or the C standard library doesn't provide linked-lists, you either need to implement it yourself, or to use a third-party library.

I suggest using the g_linked_list in the glib.