Yes, as far as I believe, this should always work in standard C89/C99. In the char array case, it works due to the brace elision rule in aggregates: assuming

Yes, as far as I believe, this should always work in standard C89/C99. In the char array case, it works due to the brace elision rule in aggregates: assuming struct foo { char bar[3]; }; These declarations are equivalent: struct foo f1 = { 0, }; struct foo f2 = { { 0, } };