On Sat, Aug 14, 2021 at 03:59:22PM +0200, Christophe JAILLET wrote: > > +# prefer = {}; to = {0}; > > + if ($line =~ /= \{ *0 *\}/) { > > + WARN("ZERO_INITIALIZER", > > + "= {} is preferred over = {0}\n" . $herecurr); Sigh... "is preferred over" by whom? Use the active voice, would you? > [1] and [2] state that {} and {0} don't have the same effect. So if correct, > this is not only a matter of style. > > When testing with gcc 10.3.0, I arrived at the conclusion that both {} and > {0} HAVE the same behavior (i.e the whole structure and included structures > are completely zeroed) and I don't have a C standard to check what the rules > are. > gcc online doc didn't help me either. http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf, but empty initializer-list is gccism anyway. Section 6.7.8 is the one to look through there. > Can someone provide some rational or compiler output that confirms that {} > and {0} are not the same? Easily: compare int x[] = {0}; and int x[] = {}; For more obscure example, int x = {0}; is valid, if pointless, but int x = {}; will be rejected even by gcc. Incidentally, do *NOT* assume that initializer will do anything with padding in a structure, no matter how you spell it. Neither {} nor {0} nor explicit initializer for each member of struct do anything to the padding. memset() does, but anything short of that leaves the padding contents unspecified.