Question : VS2008 compilation error

Dear Experts,

I am writing a C program using VS2008 to evalute expression using a stack. I have the algorithm worked out but i am running into some compilation error.

code is attached. As soon as I put in the line

charstack.top = -1;

I start getting a compliation error.

: error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'
error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'
error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'

I just cant figure out what the porblem is. Please provide me some insights.

Thanks

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#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <string.h>

#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0
#define EMPTYSTACK -1
#define STACKSIZE 30

int empty(struct stack*);
int pop(struct stack*);
int push(struct stack*, char);

typedef struct stack{
	int top;
	char stackelement[STACKSIZE];
} CHSTACK;

int main(void)
{
	FILE *ifp, *ofp; //input and output file pointers
	char *mode = "r";
	CHSTACK charstack, *stack_ptr;
	//charstack.top = -1;
	//stack_ptr = &charstack;

	char outputFilename[] = "out.txt";
	int i;

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#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <string.h>

#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0
#define EMPTYSTACK -1
#define STACKSIZE 30

int empty(struct stack*);
int pop(struct stack*);
int push(struct stack*, char);

typedef struct stack{
	int top;
	char stackelement[STACKSIZE];
} CHSTACK;

int main(void)
{
	FILE *ifp, *ofp; //input and output file pointers
	char *mode = "r";
	CHSTACK charstack, *stack_ptr;
	//charstack.top = -1;
	//stack_ptr = &charstack;

	char outputFilename[] = "out.txt";
	int i;

Answer : VS2008 compilation error

try the modification that I made:

In C all variable declarations in a block have to occur before your statements. This is not the case in C++. It compiles fine in C++, and not in C. I will bet that your file extention is .c

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	FILE *ifp, *ofp; //input and output file pointers
	char *mode = "r";
	CHSTACK charstack, *stack_ptr;
	char outputFilename[] = "out.txt";
	int i;

	charstack.top = -1;
	//stack_ptr = &charstack;

        return 0;
}