{"id":10741,"date":"2024-03-14T12:44:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T12:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silicloud.com\/blog\/how-is-a-queue-defined-in-the-c-language\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T03:21:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T03:21:05","slug":"how-is-a-queue-defined-in-the-c-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silicloud.com\/blog\/how-is-a-queue-defined-in-the-c-language\/","title":{"rendered":"C Queue Definition: Array &#038; Linked List Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In C language, queues can be defined using arrays or linked lists. Here is an example of defining a queue using arrays:<\/p>\n<pre class=\"post-pre\"><code><span class=\"hljs-meta\">#<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">include<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-string\">&lt;stdio.h&gt;<\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-meta\">#<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">define<\/span> MAX_SIZE 100<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-class\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">Queue<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> items[MAX_SIZE];\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> front;\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> rear;\r\n};\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue* <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">createQueue<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">()<\/span> {\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-class\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">Queue<\/span>* <span class=\"hljs-title\">queue<\/span> =<\/span> (<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue*)<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">malloc<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">sizeof<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue));\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;front = <span class=\"hljs-number\">-1<\/span>;\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear = <span class=\"hljs-number\">-1<\/span>;\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>;\r\n}\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">isEmpty<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue* <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>)<\/span> {\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear == <span class=\"hljs-number\">-1<\/span>) {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-number\">1<\/span>;\r\n  }\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>;\r\n}\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">isFull<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue* <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>)<\/span> {\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear == MAX_SIZE - <span class=\"hljs-number\">1<\/span>) {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-number\">1<\/span>;\r\n  }\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>;\r\n}\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-type\">void<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">enqueue<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue* <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> value)<\/span> {\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (isFull(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>)) {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"Queue is full\\n\"<\/span>);\r\n  } <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">else<\/span> {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (isEmpty(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>)) {\r\n      <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;front = <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>;\r\n    }\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear++;\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;items[<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear] = value;\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"%d enqueued to queue\\n\"<\/span>, value);\r\n  }\r\n}\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-type\">void<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">dequeue<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">(<span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> Queue* <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>)<\/span> {\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (isEmpty(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>)) {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"Queue is empty\\n\"<\/span>);\r\n  } <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">else<\/span> {\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">printf<\/span>(<span class=\"hljs-string\">\"%d dequeued from queue\\n\"<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;items[<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;front]);\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;front++;\r\n    <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">if<\/span> (<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;front &gt; <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear) {\r\n      <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;front = <span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>-&gt;rear = <span class=\"hljs-number\">-1<\/span>;\r\n    }\r\n  }\r\n}\r\n\r\n<span class=\"hljs-type\">int<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title function_\">main<\/span><span class=\"hljs-params\">()<\/span> {\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-class\"><span class=\"hljs-keyword\">struct<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-title\">Queue<\/span>* <span class=\"hljs-title\">queue<\/span> =<\/span> createQueue();\r\n\r\n  enqueue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-number\">10<\/span>);\r\n  enqueue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-number\">20<\/span>);\r\n  enqueue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>, <span class=\"hljs-number\">30<\/span>);\r\n\r\n  dequeue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>);\r\n  dequeue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>);\r\n  dequeue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>);\r\n  dequeue(<span class=\"hljs-built_in\">queue<\/span>);\r\n\r\n  <span class=\"hljs-keyword\">return<\/span> <span class=\"hljs-number\">0<\/span>;\r\n}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In the above example, we used a struct to define a queue and implemented enqueue and dequeue operations. We also defined a createQueue function for creating a queue, an isEmpty function to check if the queue is empty, and an isFull function to check if the queue is full. By using these functions, we can manipulate the queue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In C language, queues can be defined using arrays or linked lists. Here is an example of defining a queue using arrays: #include &lt;stdio.h&gt; #define MAX_SIZE 100 struct Queue { int items[MAX_SIZE]; int front; int rear; }; struct Queue* createQueue() { struct Queue* queue = (struct Queue*)malloc(sizeof(struct Queue)); queue-&gt;front = -1; queue-&gt;rear = -1; return [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13550,381,224,13551,13549],"class_list":["post-10741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-array-queue","tag-c-programming","tag-data-structures","tag-linked-list-queue","tag-queue-implementation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.5 (Yoast SEO v21.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>C Queue Definition: Array &amp; 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