Anonymous Union and Structure in C

In C11 standard of C, anonymous Unions and structures were added. 
Anonymous unions/structures are also known as unnamed unions/structures as they don’t have names. Since there is no names, direct objects(or variables) of them are not created and we use them in nested structure or unions. 
Definition is just like that of a normal union just without a name or tag. For example, 

// Anonymous union example
union 
{
   char alpha;
   int num;
};

// Anonymous structure example
struct 
{
   char alpha;
   int num;
};

Since there is no variable and no name, we can directly access members. This accessibility works only inside the scope where the anonymous union is defined. 
Following is a complete working example of anonymous union.

C

// C Program to demonstrate working of anonymous union
#include <stdio.h>
struct Scope {
    // Anonymous union
    union {
        char alpha;
        int num;
    };
};

int main()
{
    struct Scope x, y;
    x.num = 65;
    y.alpha = 'A';

    // Note that members of union are accessed directly
    printf("y.alpha = %c, x.num = %d", y.alpha, x.num);

    return 0;
}

Remember that we can only access one member of a union at a time. If another member is assigned the previous member will be wiped out from the union.

Output

x.alpha = A, x.num = 65

C

// C Program to demonstrate working of anonymous struct
#include<stdio.h>
struct Scope
{
    // Anonymous structure
    struct
    {
        char alpha;
        int num;
    };
};

int main()
{
    struct Scope x;
    x.num = 65;
    x.alpha = 'B';

    // Note that members of structure are accessed directly
    printf("x.alpha = %c, x.num = %d", x.alpha, x.num);

    return 0;
}

Output

x.alpha = B, x.num = 65

What about C++?
Anonymous Unions and Structures are NOT part of C++ 11 standard, but most of the C++ compilers support them. Since this is a C only feature, the C++ implementations don’t allow to anonymous struct/union to have private or protected members, static members, and functions.  

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