HOLY FUUUUUUUUCK POINTERS

why should I return a structure pointer rather than the structure itself

• it's smaller
• maybe you want to modify it
• what is with your title this is simple stuff

>>1
Because passing around large structures on the stack is GAY AS FUCK.

Are you malloc()ing a new structure for the person and returning?    If so an alternative method is to have them pass in a pointer to that structure then you can modify the structures contents to your heart's content, and it will be modified for the caller too.