Programming 1 - Lecture
Arrays & Strings
Dr. Mick Mc Keever
Todays Lecture
• When to use an Array.
• How to use an Array.
• When to use a String.
• How to use a String.
• What is the difference between a String and a Character.
Arrays
• Suppose we want to store 10 student numbers
for processing in code?
• An array is an efficient way to hold all the
values with one variable storing 10 values or
any number of values.
Arrays
• Arrays are used to store multiple values in a single variable,
instead of declaring separate variables for each value.
• To create an array, define the data type (like int) and specify
the name of the array followed by square brackets [].
• To insert values to it, use a comma-separated list, inside curly
braces:
int studentNum[] = {25, 50, 75, 100};
How does an array store data?
• An array is a list of elements of the same type, identified by a pair of square
brackets [ ].
• It creates space in the memory to save a list of items of the same type (int,
double , char, float
Name of each space in the array Each section of the array is called
An ELEMENT
Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student
Num[0] Num[1] Num[2] Num[3] Num[4] Num[5] Num[6] Num[7] Num[8] Num[9]
13 201 55 6 17 89 25 67 351 29
The value stored in that space in memory
Named studentNum[4]
Access Elements of Array
• To access an array element, refer to its index number.
• Array indexes start with 0: [0] is the first element. [1] is the
second element, etc.
• This statement accesses the value of the first element [0] in
myNumbers:
int myNumbers[] = {25, 50, 75, 100};
printf("%d", myNumbers[0]);
// Outputs 25
Change an Array Element
To change the value of a specific element, refer to the index
number:
int myNumbers[] = {25, 50, 75, 100};
myNumbers[0] = 33;
printf("%d", myNumbers[0]);
// Now outputs 33 instead of 25
Change an Array Element
// Declare an array of four integers:
int myNumbers[4];
// Add elements
myNumbers[0] = 25;
myNumbers[1] = 50;
myNumbers[2] = 75;
myNumbers[3] = 100;
Loop Through an Array
• You can loop through the array elements with the for loop.
• The following example outputs all elements in
the myNumbers array:
int myNumbers[] = {25, 50, 75, 100};
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
printf("%d\n", myNumbers[i]);
}
Data type review
Data Type Size Description
int 4 bytes Stores whole numbers, without decimals
float 4 bytes Stores fractional numbers, containing one or more
decimals. Sufficient for storing 7 decimal digits
double 8 bytes Stores fractional numbers, containing one or more
decimals. Sufficient for storing 15 decimal digits
char 1 byte Stores a single character/letter/number, or ASCII values
Strings & Chars
• char is a data type that holds one character e.g. letter, number, space
• String is a string of characters together.
• String is a string or an array of characters terminated by \0 (which is backslash
zero)
char message1='h'; //were storing one character
char message3[]={'h','e','l','l','o','\0'};//if we type in char
form we enter the \0 to denote it’s a string
char message2[]="hello"; // For a char array ,instead of typing
each char followed individually all followed by \0. C allows you store
a string of characters together or a string
String versus Char and %s Vs %c
Todays Lecture
• When to use an Array.
• How to use an Array.
• When to use a String.
• How to use a String.
• What is the difference between a String and a Character.
Thank You
Dr. Mick Mc Keever
