SCA Pvt. Ltd.

(Sharma Computer Academy)

Author: Saurabh Shukla

Chapter-10
Arrays
Introduction
l Arrays are also known as subscript variable.
l Array is a collection of similar elements
l Whatever may the size of array, it always consumed memory in a contiguous
manner
Need of array
Till now we have been designing solution to small problems that require less number of
variables to handle program data. Think about a scenario where you need to handle
hundreds of variables or even more than that.
In such scenario, you might be thinking about what variable names should be used, how
to reduce redundant code, etc.
Assume you have to store marks of 100 students and then think about the following:
1) What could be your variable naming convention?
2) How you efficiently write input instruction to store 100 data.
3) How could you easily manipulate data like adding all of them in a less complex
style?
The answer to all these questions is subscript notation also known as arrays.
Array Declaration
When you want to create large number of variables you need not to think about 100s of
names. Assume that you want to create 100 variables to store marks of 100 students.
Here is the way:
int marks[100];
1) Notice square brackets after array name marks. This pair of square brackets is
used to depict array usage.
2) Number mention in the square bracket is size of array. In our example we wrote
100, so size of the array is 100. Thus we have declared 100 variables in one go.
3) These 100 variables are all of type int. Since array is a collection of similar
elements, data type for all 100 variables is int.
4) Name of the first variable is marks[0], second variable is marks[1], and so on.
Therefore the last variable is marks[99]. Here it is important to note that in C
language array indexing starts with 0 and not from 1.
Example: Program to calculate average of 10 marks

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

SCA Pvt. Ltd. (Sharma Computer Academy)

Author: Saurabh Shukla
main()
{
int i, marks[10], sum=0;
float avg;
clrscr();
printf(Enter 10 numbers);
for(i=0;i<=9;i++)
scanf(%d,&marks[i]);
for(i=0;i<=9;i++)
sum=sum+marks[i];
avg=sum/10.0;
printf(Average is %f,avg);
getch();
}
Explanation:
1) Total numbers of variables in this program are 13. Their names are i, sum, avg,
marks[0], marks[1],marks[9].
2) Notice the input statement, scanf() is repeated 10 times, this is possible as we can
access array index with the help of variable. Observe &marks[i] in scanf(), here i
is used for indexing. As the loop proceed value of i changes from 0 to 9. In this
way wee need not to write scanf() 10 times.
3) Data manipulation becomes also easy, we added all 10 values stored in an array
putting statement sum=sum+marks[i] in the loop.
4) Since we have an array of size 10 and each of these blocks are of type int, to tal
memory consumed for this array is 20 bytes (2 bytes for each).
One dimension array
To use an array variable in a program, it must be declared. When defining an array in a program,
three things need to be specified.
l What kind of data it can hold, i.e., int, char, double, string, etc.
l How many values it can hold, i.e., the maximum number it can hold
l A name
In the previous example the array declared known as one dimensional array.
Note: According to our previous example marks is not a variable name but marks[0] is a
variable. Thus we can not assign anything to marks like marks=5;
Two dimension array
Two dimensional arrays is actually array of arrays. So here we are creating an array of
several identical arrays.
Consider the following declaration style

SCA Pvt. Ltd. (Sharma Computer Academy)

Author: Saurabh Shukla
int a[2][3];
this declaration means, we have an array of 2 arrays containing 3 int blocks each.
a[0][0] a[0][1] a[0][2] a[1][0] a[1][1] a[1][2]

0th array

1st array

1) Total numbers of blocks are 6, they are all of type int. Memory allocation done is
always sequential but we can assume it as two arrays each of size 3.
2) Logically we can see it as a row column structure. First row is your 0th array and
second row is 1st array.
3) Two dimensional arrays are used to handle data which is logically two
dimensional like matrix.
Example: Program to add two matrix of order 3 x 3.
#include<conio.h>
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a[3][3],b[3][3],c[3][3];
int i,j;
clrscr();
printf("Enter 9 numbers for first matrix\n");
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
for(j=0;j<3;j++)
scanf("%d",&a[i][j]);
printf("Enter 9 numbers for second matrix\n");
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
for(j=0;j<3;j++)
scanf("%d",&b[i][j]);
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
for(j=0;j<3;j++)
c[i][j]=a[i][j]+b[i][j];
printf("\nSum of matrix is: \n");
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
{
for(j=0;j<3;j++)

SCA Pvt. Ltd. (Sharma Computer Academy)

Author: Saurabh Shukla
printf("%d ",c[i][j]);
printf("\n");
}
getch();
}
Explanation:
1) Notice the declaration of arrays. We have declared three two dimensional arrays.
2) Observe the style of input. scanf() is repeated with nested loop.
3) Lastly sum of corresponding elements of two matrices are added and stored in
third array.
4) Finally sum is displayed on the screen
Initialization of array at the time of declaration
Initializing one dimension array
int a[5]={ 23,45,11,67,55};
int a[ ]= { 23,45,11,67,55};
int a[5]= {22,45};
int a[5]= {12,23,76,85,43,33};
In the first style we declared an array with size 5 and assign 5 values to them, First value
is stored in a[0] and last in a[4].
Second style is also valid. When you initialize array at the time of declaration it is not
necessary to mention size of array, otherwise it is compulsory. Compiler assumes the size
of array by counting number of values assigned to it.
Third notation style is also valid as two variables a[0] and a[1] initializes with 22 and 45,
remaining variables are initialized to 0.
Fourth style leads to compilation error. You can not initialize an array with data more
than the size of array.
Initialization of two dimension array
int b[2] [3] = {12,65,78,45,33,21};
int b[ ] [3] = {12,65,78,45,33,21};
int b[2] [ ] = {12,65,78,45,33,21};
int b[ ] [ ] = {12,65,78,45,33,21};
Last two styles are invalid and lead to compile time error.