An array is a collection of similar data items stored at contiguous memory locations.
For example,
Example 01:
Array initialization:
int a[6] = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12};In above example,
- int is the type of the array
- ‘a’ is the name of the array
- a[6] shows number of elements in array
- Bracket {}, contains the array elements.
- Each element in array has its unique index number.
Index numbers of array elements in above example,
- 2 has index number 0
- 4 has index number 1
- 6 has index number 2
- 8 has index number 3
- 10 has index number 4
- 12 has index number 5
Example 02:
int a[ ] = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12};This example is same as example 01 above. Only size of a[ ] is not defined.
Types of arrays
One-dimensional array:
Multi-dimensional array:
Two-dimensional array
Three-dimensional array
Three-domensional array is like a cuboid.
Syntax for arrays
One-dimensional array int arr[i];
Two-dimensional array int arr[i][j];
Three-dimensional array int arr[i][j][k];
Operations on array
- Traversal : Visiting each element once.
- Insertion : Process of inserting one or more elements in an array.
- Deletion : Process of deleting one or more elements in an array.
- Searching : Process of searching specific value in an array.
- Sorting : Process of arranging elements in an array.
How to access array elements ?
Here the array index number is used.
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int a[5] = {2,4,6,8,10};
printf("%d\n",a[0]); // Accessing using index number
printf("%d\n",a[1]);
printf("%d\n",a[2]);
printf("%d\n",a[3]);
printf("%d",a[4]);
return 0;
}