In emacs 25.2.1. Relevant code: draw_add(&battle.draw, (Drawn){ .kind = DRAW_RECT, .size = {40,24}, .pos.border = { .align = {ALIGN_LEFT, ALIGN_TOP}, .dist = 3 } } ); My guess is that it's reading (Drawn){...} as a statement, and the , as the (,) C operator.