compile error: 'head' does not name a type

Question

I'm currently making a spaghetti mess that I call snake game and I ran into a problem. I defineda struct snakeSeg and below a head pointer, now the problem is at the initialisation not at declaring the pointer within itself. Take a look: '''

struct snakeSeg
{
    int snakeX;
    int snakeY;
    snakeSeg *next;
};

    snakeSeg *head = new snakeSeg;
    head->next = NULL;  //<-----Here's the problem that I ran into
    head->snakeX = 15;
    head->snakeY = 15;

''' If anybody had any idea what's wrong I'd love to read your input. Cheers!

Pretty much the only thing you can do outside of a function is define and initialize. — user4581301, Aug 25 '20 at 16:58
There is a list of decent books [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-book-guide-and-list). — molbdnilo, Aug 25 '20 at 16:59

bhristov · Answer 1 · 2020-08-25T17:10:11.440

0

It looks like your code was outside of main.

struct snakeSeg
{
    int snakeX;
    int snakeY;
    snakeSeg *next;
};

int main()
{
    snakeSeg *head = new snakeSeg;
    head->next = nullptr; // it is better to use nullptr
    head->snakeX = 15;
    head->snakeY = 15;


    delete head; // also you need to free the memory
    return 0;
}

You can have it as a global variable like this:

struct snakeSeg
{
    int snakeX;
    int snakeY;
    snakeSeg *next;
};

snakeSeg *head = new snakeSeg; // all the rest of the code needs to be in a function

Another way to do this is the way @StoryTeller suggested in the comments:

struct snakeSeg
{
    int snakeX;
    int snakeY;
    snakeSeg *next;
};

snakeSeg *head = new snakeSeg{15, 15, nullptr};

edited Aug 25 '20 at 17:10

answered Aug 25 '20 at 16:57

bhristov

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So by what you're saying you can only declare outside main and the rest should be done in a function? I'm asking because I want the head to be a global variable for ease of use even though it's bad practice. – DedHorse Aug 25 '20 at 17:00
@DedHorse I updated my answer. – bhristov Aug 25 '20 at 17:03
You don't need a function here, not really. `snakeSeg *head = new snakeSeg{15, 15, nullptr};` – StoryTeller - Unslander Monica Aug 25 '20 at 17:05

compile error: 'head' does not name a type

1 Answers1