C Array with Examples

An array is a collection of data items of the some type. Items are store at contiguous memory location. It can also store the collection of derive data types, such as Pointer, structures, etc. A one dimensional array is like a list. A two dimensional array is like a table. The C languages places on limit on the number of dimensions in an array. Some texts refer to one dimensional array as vectors, and Two dimensional array as matrices and use the general term array when the number of dimensions is unspecified or unimportant. The name of the array represent by square brackets [].

Types of Array

• One dimensional array
• Two dimensional array

One dimensional Array

Only one row for storing data is knows as One dimensional Array.

Declaration of C Array

• data_type array_name[array_size];  

Example of Declaration of C array

int marks[42]

Initialization of C Array

An array can be initializes in two ways

• Compile time initialization
• Runtime initialization

Compile time initialization

Example

#include<stdio.h>
int main ( ){
   int x[6] = {100 , 200, 300 , 400 , 500 , 600 };
   int y;
   printf ("elements of the array");
   for ( y=0; y<6; y++)
      printf ("%d \n", x[y]);
}

Output

Runtime initialization

Example

#include<stdio.h>
main ( ){
    int x[5],i;
    printf ("enter 5 elements");
    for ( i=0; i<5; i++)
        scanf("%d\n", &x[i]);
    printf("elements of the array are");
    for (i=0; i<5; i++)
        printf("%d\n ", x[i]);
}

Output

Example

C program for one dimensional array

input value

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void){
    int x[3];
    int y[3] = {1};
    int z[3] = {1,2,3};
    int i;
    printf("\nArray x:\n");
    for( i=0; i<3; i++ )
        printf("rom[%d]: %d\n",i,x[i]);
        printf("\nArray y:\n");
    for( i=0; i<3; i++)
        printf("rom[%d]: %d\n",i,y[i]);
    printf("\nArray z:\n");
    for( i=0; i<3; i++ )
        printf("rom[%d]: %d\n",i, z[i]);
    return 0;
}

Output

Two Dimensional Array

Two or more than two row is called multi dimension array. It is also known as Matrix.

Declaration of two dimensional Array

data_type array_name[rows][columns];

Example

int twodimen[4][3];  

Initialization of 2D Array

An array can be initializes in two ways

• Compile time initialization
• Runtime initialization

Compile time initialization

Example

input value

#include<stdio.h>  
int main(){      
int x=0,y=0;    
int arr[4][3]={{4,5,6},{7,8,9},{1,2,3},{4,5,6}};     
    
for(x=0;x<4;x++){    
 for(y=0;y<3;y++){    
   printf("arr[%d] [%d] = %d \n",x,y,arr[x][y]);    
 }    
}   
return 0;  
}    

output

Runtime initialization

Example

Input value

#include <stdio.h>    
void main ()    
{    
    int arr[4][4],x,y;     
    for (x=0;x<4;x++)    
    {    
        for (y=0;y<4;y++)    
        {    
            printf("Enter p[%d][%d]: ",x,y);                
            scanf("%d",&arr[x][y]);    
        }    
    }    
    printf("\n printing the elements ....\n");     
    for(x=0;x<4;x++)    
    {    
        printf("\n");    
        for (y=0;y<4;y++)    
        {    
            printf("%d\t",arr[x][y]);    
        }    
    }    
}    

Output

Return array to function

C programming does not allow to return an entire array as an argument to a function is knows as Return array .

There are three right ways of returning an array to a function:

• Dynamically allocated array
• Static array
• Structure array

Example

#include <stdio.h>
int* getEvenNumbers(int N){
    static int evenNumberArray[100];
    int i, even = 2;
     
    for(i=0; i<N; i++){
        evenNumberArray[i] = even;
        even += 2;
    }
    return evenNumberArray;
}
 
int main(){
   int *array, counter;
   array = getEvenNumbers(20);
   printf("Even Numbers\n");
   for(counter=0; counter<20; counter++){
       printf("%d\n", array[counter]);
   }
    
   return 0;
}

Ouput

Passing Array to Function in C

Syntax

functionname(arrayname);

Methods to declare a function

There are three ways:-

First Way

return_type function(type arrayname[]) 

Second Way

return_type function(type arrayname[SIZE])

Third Way

return_type function(type *arrayname)  

Example

Input Value

#include<stdio.h>  
int minarray(int arr[],int size){    
int min=arr[0];    
int i=0;    
for(i=1;i<size;i++){    
if(min>arr[i]){    
min=arr[i];    
}    
}   
return min;    
}    
    
int main(){      
int i=0,min=0;    
int numbers[]={52,57,70,325,84,97,40};  
  
min=minarray(numbers,7);   
printf("minimum number is %d \n",min);    
return 0;  
}    

Output

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