Arrays in C

An array is a collection of elements of the same data type stored in contiguous memory locations.

Advantages of Arrays

• Stores multiple values using a single name

• Easy access using index

• Reduces code size

• Efficient data handling

Types of Arrays

1. One-Dimensional Array

2. Two-Dimensional Array

3. Multidimensional Array

One-Dimensional Array

Declaration

data_type array_name[size];

Example

int a[5];

Initialization

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

Accessing Array Elements

a[0] = 10;
printf("%d", a[2]);

Example Program (1D Array)

#include 

int main() {
    int a[5], i;

    for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        scanf("%d", &a[i]);
    }

    for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        printf("%d ", a[i]);
    }
    return 0;
}

Two-Dimensional Array

Declaration

data_type array_name[row][column];

Example

int a[2][3];

Initialization

int a[2][3] = {{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}};

Example Program (2D Array)

#include 

int main() {
    int a[2][3], i, j;

    for (i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
        for (j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
            scanf("%d", &a[i][j]);
        }
    }

    for (i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
        for (j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
            printf("%d ", a[i][j]);
        }
        printf("\n");
    }
    return 0;
}

Array Indexing

• Array index starts from 0

• Last index is size - 1

Passing Arrays to Functions

void display(int a[], int n);

Limitations of Arrays

• Fixed size

• Stores only similar data types

• Insertion and deletion are difficult

Summary

• Arrays store multiple values of same type

• Index starts from 0

• Supports one-dimensional and multidimensional arrays

• Useful for handling large data sets