An array is defined as the collection of similar type of data items stored at contiguous
memory locations. Arrays are the derived data type in C programming language which
can store the primitive type of data such as int, char, double, float, etc. It also has the
capability to store the collection of derived data types, such as pointers, structure, etc.
The array is the simplest data structure where each data element can be randomly
accessed by using its index number.
C array is beneficial if you have to store similar elements. For example, if we want to
store the marks of a student in 6 subjects, then we don't need to define different
variables for the marks in the different subject. Instead of that, we can define an array
which can store the marks in each subject at the contiguous memory locations.
By using the array, we can access the elements easily. Only a few lines of code are
required to access the elements of the array.
Properties of Array
The array contains the following properties.
o Each element of an array is of same data type and carries the same size, i.e., int
= 4 bytes.
o Elements of the array are stored at contiguous memory locations where the first
element is stored at the smallest memory location.
o Elements of the array can be randomly accessed since we can calculate the
address of each element of the array with the given base address and the size of
the data element.
Advantage of C Array
Code Optimization: Less code to the access the data.
Ease of traversing: By using the for loop, we can retrieve the elements of an
array easily.
Ease of sorting: To sort the elements of the array, we need a few lines of
codeonly.
Random Access: We can access any element randomly using the array.
Disadvantage of C Array
Fixed Size: Whatever size, we define at the time of declaration of the array, we can't
exceed the limit. So, it doesn't grow the size dynamically like LinkedList which we will
learn later.
Declaration of C Array
We can declare an array in the c language in the following way.
1. data_type array_name[array_size];
Now, let us see the example to declare the array.
1. int marks[5];
Here, int is the data_type, marks are the array_name, and 5 is the array_size.
Initialization of C Array
The simplest way to initialize an array is by using the index of each element. We can
initialize each element of the array by using the index. Consider the following example.
1. marks[0]=80;//initialization of array
2. marks[1]=60;
3. marks[2]=70;
4. marks[3]=85;
5. marks[4]=75;
C array example
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. int main(){
3. int i=0;
4. int marks[5];//declaration of array
5. marks[0]=80;//initialization of array
6. marks[1]=60;
7. marks[2]=70;
8. marks[3]=85;
9. marks[4]=75;
10. //traversal of array
11. for(i=0;i<5;i++){
12. printf("%d \n",marks[i]);
13. }//end of for loop
14. return 0;
15. }
Output
80
60
70
85
75
C Array: Declaration with Initialization
We can initialize the c array at the time of declaration. Let's see the code.
1. int marks[5]={20,30,40,50,60};
In such case, there is no requirement to define the size. So it may also be written as
the following code.
1. int marks[]={20,30,40,50,60};
Let's see the C program to declare and initialize the array in C.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. int main(){
3. int i=0;
4. int marks[5]={20,30,40,50,60};//declaration and initialization of array
5. //traversal of array
6. for(i=0;i<5;i++){
7. printf("%d \n",marks[i]);
8. }
9. return 0;
10. }
Output
20
30
40
50
60
C Array Example: Sorting an array
In the following program, we are using bubble sort method to sort the array in
ascending order.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. int i, j,temp;
5. int a[10] = { 10, 9, 7, 101, 23, 44, 12, 78, 34, 23};
6. for(i = 0; i<10; i++)
7. {
8. for(j = i+1; j<10; j++)
9. {
10. if(a[j] > a[i])
11. {
12. temp = a[i];
13. a[i] = a[j];
14. a[j] = temp;
15. }
16. }
17. }
18. printf("Printing Sorted Element List ...\n");
19. for(i = 0; i<10; i++)
20. {
21. printf("%d\n",a[i]);
22. }
23. }
Program to print the largest and second largest element of the
array.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. int arr[100],i,n,largest,sec_largest;
5. printf("Enter the size of the array?");
6. scanf("%d",&n);
7. printf("Enter the elements of the array?");
8. for(i = 0; i<n; i++)
9. {
10. scanf("%d",&arr[i]);
11. }
12. largest = arr[0];
13. sec_largest = arr[1];
14. for(i=0;i<n;i++)
15. {
16. if(arr[i]>largest)
17. {
18. sec_largest = largest;
19. largest = arr[i];
20. }
21. else if (arr[i]>sec_largest && arr[i]!=largest)
22. {
23. sec_largest=arr[i];
24. }
25. }
26. printf("largest = %d, second largest = %d",largest,sec_largest);
27.
28. }
Two Dimensional Array in C
The two-dimensional array can be defined as an array of arrays. The 2D array is
organized as matrices which can be represented as the collection of rows and columns.
However, 2D arrays are created to implement a relational database lookalike data
structure. It provides ease of holding the bulk of data at once which can be passed to
any number of functions wherever required.
Declaration of two dimensional Array in C
The syntax to declare the 2D array is given below.
1. data_type array_name[rows][columns];
Consider the following example.
1. int twodimen[4][3];
Here, 4 is the number of rows, and 3 is the number of columns.
Initialization of 2D Array in C
In the 1D array, we don't need to specify the size of the array if the declaration and
initialization are being done simultaneously. However, this will not work with 2D arrays.
We will have to define at least the second dimension of the array. The two-dimensional
array can be declared and defined in the following way.
1. int arr[4][3]={{1,2,3},{2,3,4},{3,4,5},{4,5,6}};
Two-dimensional array example in C
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. int main(){
3. int i=0,j=0;
4. int arr[4][3]={{1,2,3},{2,3,4},{3,4,5},{4,5,6}};
5. //traversing 2D array
6. for(i=0;i<4;i++){
7. for(j=0;j<3;j++){
8. printf("arr[%d] [%d] = %d \n",i,j,arr[i][j]);
9. }//end of j
10. }//end of i
11. return 0;
12. }
Output
arr[0][0] = 1
arr[0][1] = 2
arr[0][2] = 3
arr[1][0] = 2
arr[1][1] = 3
arr[1][2] = 4
arr[2][0] = 3
arr[2][1] = 4
arr[2][2] = 5
arr[3][0] = 4
arr[3][1] = 5
arr[3][2] = 6
C 2D array example: Storing elements in a matrix and printing it.
1. #include <stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. int arr[3][3],i,j;
5. for (i=0;i<3;i++)
6. {
7. for (j=0;j<3;j++)
8. {
9. printf("Enter a[%d][%d]: ",i,j);
10. scanf("%d",&arr[i][j]);
11. }
12. }
13. printf("\n printing the elements ....\n");
14. for(i=0;i<3;i++)
15. {
16. printf("\n");
17. for (j=0;j<3;j++)
18. {
19. printf("%d\t",arr[i][j]);
20. }
21. }
22. }
Output
Enter a[0][0]: 56
Enter a[0][1]: 10
Enter a[0][2]: 30
Enter a[1][0]: 34
Enter a[1][1]: 21
Enter a[1][2]: 34
Enter a[2][0]: 45
Enter a[2][1]: 56
Enter a[2][2]: 78
printing the elements ....
56 10 30
34 21 34
45 56 78
Strings
The string can be defined as the one-dimensional array of characters terminated by a null ('\0').
The character array or the string is used to manipulate text such as word or sentences. Each
character in the array occupies one byte of memory, and the last character must always be 0. The
termination character ('\0') is important in a string since it is the only way to identify where the
string ends. When we define a string as char s[10], the character s[10] is implicitly initialized
with the null in the memory.
There are two ways to declare a string in c language.
1. By char array
2. By string literal
Let's see the example of declaring string by char array in C language.
1. char ch[10]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
As we know, array index starts from 0, so it will be represented as in the figure given below.
While declaring string, size is not mandatory. So we can write the above code as given below:
1. char ch[]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
We can also define the string by the string literal in C language. For example:
SQL CREATE TABLE
1. char ch[]="javatpoint";
In such case, '\0' will be appended at the end of the string by the compiler.
Difference between char array and string literal
There are two main differences between char array and literal.
o We need to add the null character '\0' at the end of the array by ourself whereas,
it is appended internally by the compiler in the case of the character array.
o The string literal cannot be reassigned to another set of characters whereas, we
can reassign the characters of the array.
String Example in C
Let's see a simple example where a string is declared and being printed. The '%s' is
used as a format specifier for the string in c language.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[11]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
5. char ch2[11]="javatpoint";
6.
7. printf("Char Array Value is: %s\n", ch);
8. printf("String Literal Value is: %s\n", ch2);
9. return 0;
10. }
Output
Char Array Value is: javatpoint
String Literal Value is: javatpoint
Traversing String
Traversing the string is one of the most important aspects in any of the programming
languages. We may need to manipulate a very large text which can be done by
traversing the text. Traversing string is somewhat different from the traversing an
integer array. We need to know the length of the array to traverse an integer array,
whereas we may use the null character in the case of string to identify the end the
string and terminate the loop.
Hence, there are two ways to traverse a string.
o By using the length of string
o By using the null character.
Let's discuss each one of them.
Using the length of string
Let's see an example of counting the number of vowels in a string.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. char s[11] = "javatpoint";
5. int i = 0;
6. int count = 0;
7. while(i<11)
8. {
9. if(s[i]=='a' || s[i] == 'e' || s[i] == 'i' || s[i] == 'u' || s[i] == 'o')
10. {
11. count ++;
12. }
13. i++;
14. }
15. printf("The number of vowels %d",count);
16. }
Output
The number of vowels 4
Using the null character
Let's see the same example of counting the number of vowels by using the null
character.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. char s[11] = "javatpoint";
5. int i = 0;
6. int count = 0;
7. while(s[i] != NULL)
8. {
9. if(s[i]=='a' || s[i] == 'e' || s[i] == 'i' || s[i] == 'u' || s[i] == 'o')
10. {
11. count ++;
12. }
13. i++;
14. }
15. printf("The number of vowels %d",count);
16. }
Output
The number of vowels 4
Accepting string as the input
Till now, we have used scanf to accept the input from the user. However, it can also be
used in the case of strings but with a different scenario. Consider the below code which
stores the string while space is encountered.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. char s[20];
5. printf("Enter the string?");
6. scanf("%s",s);
7. printf("You entered %s",s);
8. }
Output
Enter the string?javatpoint is the best
You entered javatpoint
It is clear from the output that, the above code will not work for space separated
strings. To make this code working for the space separated strings, the minor changed
required in the scanf function, i.e., instead of writing scanf("%s",s), we must write:
scanf("%[^\n]s",s) which instructs the compiler to store the string s while the new line (\
n) is encountered. Let's consider the following example to store the space-separated
strings.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. char s[20];
5. printf("Enter the string?");
6. scanf("%[^\n]s",s);
7. printf("You entered %s",s);
8. }
Output
Enter the string?javatpoint is the best
You entered javatpoint is the best
Here we must also notice that we do not need to use address of (&) operator in scanf to
store a string since string s is an array of characters and the name of the array, i.e., s
indicates the base address of the string (character array) therefore we need not use &
with it.
Some important points
However, there are the following points which must be noticed while entering the
strings by using scanf.
o The compiler doesn't perform bounds checking on the character array. Hence,
there can be a case where the length of the string can exceed the dimension of
the character array which may always overwrite some important data.
o Instead of using scanf, we may use gets() which is an inbuilt function defined in a
header file string.h. The gets() is capable of receiving only one string at a time.
C gets() and puts() functions
The gets() and puts() are declared in the header file stdio.h. Both the functions are
involved in the input/output operations of the strings.
C gets() function
The gets() function enables the user to enter some characters followed by the enter
key. All the characters entered by the user get stored in a character array. The null
character is added to the array to make it a string. The gets() allows the user to enter
the space-separated strings. It returns the string entered by the user.
Declaration
1. char[] gets(char[]);
Reading string using gets()
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main ()
3. {
4. char s[30];
5. printf("Enter the string? ");
6. gets(s);
7. printf("You entered %s",s);
8. }
Output
Enter the string?
javatpoint is the best
You entered javatpoint is the best
The gets() function is risky to use since it doesn't perform any array bound checking and
keep reading the characters until the new line (enter) is encountered. It suffers from
buffer overflow, which can be avoided by using fgets(). The fgets() makes sure that not
more than the maximum limit of characters are read. Consider the following example.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. void main()
3. {
4. char str[20];
5. printf("Enter the string? ");
6. fgets(str, 20, stdin);
7. printf("%s", str);
8. }
Output
Enter the string? javatpoint is the best website
javatpoint is the b
C puts() function
The puts() function is very much similar to printf() function. The puts() function is used
to print the string on the console which is previously read by using gets() or scanf()
function. The puts() function returns an integer value representing the number of
characters being printed on the console. Since, it prints an additional newline character
with the string, which moves the cursor to the new line on the console, the integer value
returned by puts() will always be equal to the number of characters present in the string
plus 1.
Declaration
1. int puts(char[])
Let's see an example to read a string using gets() and print it on the console using
puts().
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char name[50];
5. printf("Enter your name: ");
6. gets(name); //reads string from user
7. printf("Your name is: ");
8. puts(name); //displays string
9. return 0;
10. }
Output:
Enter your name: Sonoo Jaiswal
Your name is: Sonoo Jaiswal
String Functions
There are many important string functions defined in "string.h" library.
No. Function Description
1) strlen(string_name) returns the length of string name.
2) strcpy(destination, source) copies the contents of source string to destination string.
3) strcat(first_string, concats or joins first string with second string. The result of
second_string) the string is stored in first string.
4) strcmp(first_string, compares the first string with second string. If both strings are
second_string) same, it returns 0.
5) strrev(string) returns reverse string.
6) strlwr(string) returns string characters in lowercase.
7) strupr(string) returns string characters in uppercase.
String Length: strlen() function
The strlen() function returns the length of the given string. It doesn't count null
character '\0'.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[20]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
5. printf("Length of string is: %d",strlen(ch));
6. return 0;
7. }
Output:
Length of string is: 10
Copy String: strcpy()
The strcpy(destination, source) function copies the source string in destination.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[20]={'j', 'a', 'v', 'a', 't', 'p', 'o', 'i', 'n', 't', '\0'};
5. char ch2[20];
6. strcpy(ch2,ch);
7. printf("Value of second string is: %s",ch2);
8. return 0;
9. }
Output:
Value of second string is: javatpoint
String Concatenation: strcat()
The strcat(first_string, second_string) function concatenates two strings and result is
returned to first_string.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char ch[10]={'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', '\0'};
5. char ch2[10]={'c', '\0'};
6. strcat(ch,ch2);
7. printf("Value of first string is: %s",ch);
8. return 0;
9. }
Output:
Value of first string is: helloc
Compare String: strcmp()
The strcmp(first_string, second_string) function compares two string and returns 0 if
both strings are equal.
Here, we are using gets() function which reads string from the console.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str1[20],str2[20];
5. printf("Enter 1st string: ");
6. gets(str1);//reads string from console
7. printf("Enter 2nd string: ");
8. gets(str2);
9. if(strcmp(str1,str2)==0)
10. printf("Strings are equal");
11. else
12. printf("Strings are not equal");
13. return 0;
14. }
Output:
Enter 1st string: hello
Enter 2nd string: hello
Strings are equal
Reverse String: strrev()
The strrev(string) function returns reverse of the given string. Let's see a simple
example of strrev() function.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str[20];
5. printf("Enter string: ");
6. gets(str);//reads string from console
7. printf("String is: %s",str);
8. printf("\nReverse String is: %s",strrev(str));
9. return 0;
10. }
Output:
Enter string: javatpoint
String is: javatpoint
Reverse String is: tnioptavaj
String Lowercase: strlwr()
The strlwr(string) function returns string characters in lowercase. Let's see a simple
example of strlwr() function.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str[20];
5. printf("Enter string: ");
6. gets(str);//reads string from console
7. printf("String is: %s",str);
8. printf("\nLower String is: %s",strlwr(str));
9. return 0;
10. }
Output:
Enter string: JAVATpoint
String is: JAVATpoint
Lower String is: javatpoint
String Uppercase: strupr()
The strupr(string) function returns string characters in uppercase. Let's see a simple
example of strupr() function.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str[20];
5. printf("Enter string: ");
6. gets(str);//reads string from console
7. printf("String is: %s",str);
8. printf("\nUpper String is: %s",strupr(str));
9. return 0;
10. }
Output:
Enter string: javatpoint
String is: javatpoint
Upper String is: JAVATPOINT
String strstr()
The strstr() function returns pointer to the first occurrence of the matched string in the
given string. It is used to return substring from first match till the last character.
Syntax:
1. char *strstr(const char *string, const char *match)
String strstr() parameters
string: It represents the full string from where substring will be searched.
match: It represents the substring to be searched in the full string.
String strstr() example
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include <string.h>
3. int main(){
4. char str[100]="this is javatpoint with c and java";
5. char *sub;
6. sub=strstr(str,"java");
7. printf("\nSubstring is: %s",sub);
8. return 0;
9. }
Output:
javatpoint with c and java
