C: comparing two strings from a struct

Question

I am almost brand new to C and was wondering how to compare strings from two separate struct member-variables. Maybe providing my code will bring clarity to what I am asking.

I have the following structure:

typedef struct mentry {
     char *surname;
     int house_number;
     char *postcode;
     char *full_address;
} MEntry;

I want to compare two seperate MEntry variables. I want to check if the surname of both entries is the same. So, I've written the following method:

 int me_compare(MEntry *me1, MEntry *me2) 
 {

     int surnameResult;


     char me1Surname = *(me1->surname);
     char me2Surname = *(me2->surname);

     surnameResult = strcmp(me1Surname, me2Surname);
     return surnameResult;
}

When I compile my program I get the following messages:

 mentry.c:30:6: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘strcmp’ makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
  surnameResult = strcmp(me1Surname, me2Surname);

Am I wrong in thinking that the line:

 char me1Surname = *(me1->surname);

sets me1Surname equal to the value of surname and not the address of surname?

I also get another warning saying:

"In file included from mentry.c:2:0:
 /usr/include/string.h:140:12:note: expected ‘const char *’ but argument  is of type ‘char’
extern int strcmp (const char *__s1, const char *__s2)"

Can someone explain why this warning appears?

Answer 1

You are trying too hard:

Try the obvious way:

int me_compare(const MEntry *me1, const MEntry *me2) 
{
  return strcmp(me1->surname, me2->surname);
}