ARRAYS

Using Arrays in C: C supports a derived data type known as array that can be
used to handle large amounts of data (multiple values) at a time.

Definition:

An array is a group (or collection) of same data types. Or An array is a collection of

data that holds fixed number of values of same type. Or Array is a collection or group
of elements (data). All the lements of array are homogeneous (similar). It has
contiguous memory location.

Or

An array is a data structured that can store a fixed size sequential collection of
elements of same data type.

Need of an array

Suppose we have to store marks of 50 students, one way to do this is

allotting 50 variables. So it will be typical and hard to manage. For
example, we cannot access the value of these variables with only 1 or 2
lines of code.

Another way to do this is array. By using array, we can access the

elements easily. Only few lines of code are required to access the
elements of array.

Where arrays are used

 to store list of Employee or Student names,

 to store marks of a students,
 or to store list of numbers or characters etc.

Advantage of C Array

1) Code Optimization: Less code to the access the data.

2) Easy to traverse data: By using the for loop, we can retrieve the elements of
an array easily.
3) Easy to sort data: To sort the elements of array, we need a few lines of code
only.

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 4) Random Access: We can access any element randomly using the array.

Disadvantage of Array

Fixed Size: Whatever size, we define at the time of declaration of array, we

can't exceed the limit. So, it doesn't grow the size dynamically like Linked
List.

Declaration of an Array

data-type variable-name[size/length of array];

For example:

int arr[10];

int arr[ 5];

Here int is the data type, arr is the name of the array and 10 is the size of
array. It means array arr can only contain 10 elements of int type. Index of an
array starts from 0 to size-1 i.e first element of arr array will be stored at arr[0]
address and last element will occupy arr[9].

Initialization of an Array: After an array is declared it must be initialized.

Otherwise, it will contain garbage value (any random value). An array can be
initialized at either compile time or at runtime.

Compile time Array initialization: Compile time initialization of array elements

is same as ordinary variable initialization.
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 Syntax : data_type array_name[size]={v1,v2,…vn} ;

Example

int age[5]={22,25,30,32,35};

int marks[4]={ 67, 87, 56, 77 }; //integer array initialization

float area[5]={ 23.4, 6.8, 5.5 }; //float array initialization
int marks[4]={ 67, 87, 56, 77, 59 }; //Compile time error

Different ways of initializing arrays :

1 : Initializing all specified memory locations

2 : Partial array initialization.
3 : Initialization without size.
4 : String initialization.
1 : Initializing all specified memory locations : If the number of values to be
initialized is equal to size of array. Arrays can be initialized at the time of
declaration. Array elements can be initialized with data items of type int, float,
char, etc.

Ex : consider integer initialization

int a[5]={10,20,30,40,50};

During compilation, 5 contiguous memory locations are reserved by the

compiler for the variable a and all these locations are initialized. The array a is
initialized as

a[0] a[1] a[2] a[3] a[4]

10 20 30 40 50

1000 1002 1004 1006 1008

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 If the size of integer is 2 bytes, 10 bytes will be allocated for the variable a.

Ex : consider character initialization

char b[8] = {C‟,‟O‟,‟M‟,‟P‟,‟U‟,‟T‟,‟E‟,‟R‟};

The array b is initialized as

b[0] b[1] b[2] b[3] b[4] b[5] b[6] b[7]

C O M P U T E R

Other Examples : char b[5]={„J‟,‟B‟,‟R‟,‟E‟,‟C‟,‟B‟};

//error : number of initial values are more than the size of array.

Other Example : int a[5]={10,20,30,40,50,60};

//error : Number of initial values are more than the size of array.

2 : Partial Array Initialization: partial array initialization is possible in C

language. If the number of values to be initialized is less than the size of the
array, then the elements are initialized in the order from 0th location. The
remaining locations will be initialized to zero automatically.

Ex : Consider the partial initialization

int a[5]={10,15};

Even though compiler allocates 5 memory locations, using this declaration

statement, the compiler initializes first two locations with 10 and 15, the next
set of memory locations are automatically initialized to zero. The array a is
partial initialization as

a[0] a[1] a[2] a[3] a[4]

10 15 0 0 0

1000 1002 1004 1006 1008

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 Access the elements of an array: We can access elements of an array by
indices/index. You can use array subscript (or index) to access any
element stored in array. Subscript starts with 0, which means
array_name[0] would be used to access first element in an array.

In general array_name[n-1] can be used to access nth element of an array.

where n is any integer number.
Example float mark[5];
Suppose you declared an array mark as above. The first element is mark[0],
second element is mark[1] and so on.

Few key notes:

 Arrays have 0 as the first index not 1. In this example, mark[0]

 If the size of an array is n, to access the last element, (n-1) index is
used. In this example, mark[4]
 Suppose the starting address of mark[0] is 2120d. Then, the next
address, a[1], will be 2124d, address of a[2] will be 2128d and so on. It's
because the size of a float is 4 bytes.

Input data into array: As you can see, in above example that I have used „for
loop‟ and „scanf statement‟ to enter data into array. You can use any loop for
data input.

Code:

for (x=0; x<=19;x++)

printf("enter the integer number %d\n", x);

scanf("%d", &num[x]);
}

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 Reading out data from an array: For example, you want to read and display
array elements, you can do it just by using any loop. Suppose array is
mydata[20].

for (int i=0; i<20; i++)

printf("%d\n", mydata[x]);

Exmaple
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int i;
int arr[]={2,3,4}; //Compile time array initialization
for(i=0 ; i<3 ; i++)
{
printf("%d\t",arr
[i]);
}
getch();
}

Exmaple

include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main( )
{
int i=0;
int marks[5]={20,30,40,50,60};//declaration and initialization of array
clrscr( );
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf("%d \n",marks[i]);
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 }.
getch();
}

Runtime Array initialization: An array can also be initialized at runtime

using scanf() function. This approach is usually used for initializing large
array, or to initialize array with user specified values.

Example
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
int arr[4];
int i, j;
printf("Enter array element");
for(i=0;i<4;i++)
{
scanf("%d",&arr[i]);//Run time array initialization
}
for(j=0;j<4;j++)
{
printf("%d\n",arr[j]);
}
getch();
}

Two‐Dimensional Arrays: The two dimensional array in C language is

represented in the form of rows and columns, also known as matrix. It is also
known as array of arrays or list of arrays. The two dimensional, three
dimensional or other dimensional arrays are also known as multidimensional
arrays.

Declaration of two dimensional Array

data_type array_name[size1][size2];

Example

int twodimen[4][3];
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 Example : int a[3][4];

Initialization of 2D Array
int arr[4][3]={{1,2,3},{2,3,4},{3,4,5},{4,5,6}};

Accessing Two-Dimensional Array Elements

An element in a two-dimensional array is accessed by using the

subscripts, i.e., row index and column index of the array.

Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
void main()
{
int i=0,j=0;
int arr[4][3]={{1,2,3},{2,3,4},{3,4,5},{4,5,6}};
clrscr();
for(i=0;i<4;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<3;j++)
{
printf("arr[%d] [%d] = %d \n",i,j,arr[i][j]);

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 }//end of j
}//end of i
getch();
}

Example Write a C program Addition of Two Matrices

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main( )
{
int a[25][25],b[25][25],c[25][25], i, j, m, n;
clrscr();
printf("enter the rows and colums of two matrics:\n");
scanf("%d%d",&m,&n);
printf("\nenter the elements of A matrics");
for(i=0;i<m;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<n;j++)
scanf("\t%d", &a[i][j]);
}

printf("\nenter the elements of B matrics");

for(i=0;i<m;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<n;j++)
scanf("\t%d",&b[i][j]);
}

printf("\nThe elements of A matrics");

for(i=0;i<m;i++)
{
printf("\n");
for(j=0;j<n;j++)
printf("\t%d",a[i][j]);
}
printf("\nThe elements of B matrics");
for(i=0;i<m;i++)

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 {

printf("\n");
for(j=0;j<n;j++)
printf("\t%d",a[i][j]);
}

printf("\nThe additon of two matrics");

for(i=0;i<m;i++)
{
printf("\n"); for(j=0;j<n;j++)
{
c[i][j]=a[i][j]+b[i][j];
printf("\t%d",c[i][j]);
}
}
getch();
}

Multidimensional Arrays: Initialization of a three dimensional array. We can

initialize a three dimensional array in a similar way like a two dimensional
array. Here's an example

int test[2][3][4] = {

{ {3, 4, 2, 3}, {0, -3, 9, 11}, {23, 12, 23, 2} },

{ {13, 4, 56, 3}, {5, 9, 3, 5}, {3, 1, 4, 9} }

};

Example

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{

int i, j, k, test[2][3][2];
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 printf("Enter 12 values: \n");
for(i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
{
for (j = 0; j < 3; ++j)
{
for(k = 0; k < 2; ++k ) {
scanf("%d", &test[i][j][k]);
}
}
}

printf("\nDisplaying values:\n");
for(i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
{
for (j = 0; j < 3; ++j)
{
for(k = 0; k < 2; ++k ) {
printf("test[%d][%d][%d] = %d\n", i, j, k, test[i][j][k]);
}
}

}
return 0;
}

STRINGS: String is an array of characters that is terminated by \0 (null

character). This null character indicates the end of the string. Strings are always
enclosed by double quotes ( " " ). Whereas, character is enclosed by single
quotes.

Or

In „C‟ language the group of characters, digits, and symbols enclosed within
double quotation ( " " ) marks are called as string otherwise a string is an array
of characters and terminated by NULL character which is denoted by the
escape sequence „\0‟.

C Strings

Declaration of String: C does not support string as a data type. However, it

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 allows us to represent strings as character arrays. In C, a string variable is any
valid C variable name and it is always declared as an array of characters.

The general form of declaration of a string variable is :

Syntax: char string_name[size];

The size determines the number of characters in the string name.

Note: In declaration of string size must be required to mention otherwise it gives

an error.

Ex: char str[];

str[0]; // Invalid
char str[-1]; // Invalid char
str[10]; // Valid
char a[9]; //Valid

Using this declaration, the compiler allocates 9 memory locations for the
variable a ranging from 0 to 8.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Here, the string variable a can hold maximum of 9 characters including

NULL(\0)
character.

Initializing Array string

Syntax: char string_name[size]={“string” };

Note: In Initialization of the string if the specific number of character is not

initialized it then rest of all character will be initialized with NULL.
char
str[5]={'5','+','A'};
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 str[0]; ---> 5
str[1]; ---> +

str[2]; ---> A

str[3]; ---> NULL

str[4]; ---> NULL

Note: In initialization of the string we can not initialized more than size of string
elements.

Ex:

char str[2]={'5','+','A','B'}; // Invalid

Different ways of initialization can be done in various ways :

1: Initializing locations character by character.

2: Partial array initialization.
3 : Initialization without size.
4 : Array initialization with a string .

1 : Initilizing locations character by character Consider the following

declaration with initialization, Char b[9]={“C‟,‟O‟,‟M‟,‟P‟,‟U‟,‟T‟,‟E‟,‟R‟};

The compiler allocates 9 memory locations ranging from 0 to 8 and these

locations are initialized with the characters in the order specified. The
remaining locations are automatically initialized to null characters.

C O M P U T E R \0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

2 Partial Array Initilization : If the characters to be initialized is less than

the size of the array, then the characters are stored sequentially from left to
right.The remaining locations will be initialized to NULL characters
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 automatically.

Ex : Consider the partial initilization

int a[10]={“R‟,‟A‟,‟M‟,‟A‟ };

The compiler allocates 10 bytes for the variable a ranging from 0 to 9 and
initializes first four locations with the ASCII characters of „R‟, „A‟, „M‟, „A‟.The
remaining locations are automatically filled with NULL characters (i.e,\0).

R A M A \ \ \ \ \ \
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Initilization without size : consider the declaration along with the

initialization char b[]={„C‟,‟O‟,‟M‟,‟P‟,‟U‟,‟T‟,‟E‟,‟R‟};
In this declaration, The compiler will set the array size to the total number
of initial values i.e 8. The character will be stored in these memory locations in
the order specified.

b[0] b[1] b[2] b[3] b[4] b[5] b[6] b[7]

C O M P U T E R

4) Array Initilization with a String : consider the declaration with string

initialization.
char b[ ] = “COMPUTER”;

Here, the string length is 8 bytes. But , string size is 9 bytes. So the compiler
reserves 8+1 memory locations and these locations are initialized with the
characters in the order specified. The string is terminated by \0 by the
compiler.

C O M P U T E R \0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The string “COMPUTER” contain 8 characters, because it is a string. It always

ends with null character. So, the array is 9 bytes (i.e string length+1 byte for null
character).

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