How can I highlight a 2D array using double pointers?

Question

I want to know how can I create a 2D array using double pointers?

Suppose my array declaration is:

char array[100][100];

How can I get a double pointer that has the same distribution and properties?

Answer 1

A typical procedure for dynamically allocating a two-dimensional array using a pointer to a pointer:

#include <stdlib.h>
...
T **arr; // for any type T
arr = malloc(sizeof *arr * ROWS);
if (arr)
{
  size_t i;
  for (i = 0; i < ROWS; i++)
  {
    arr[i] = malloc(sizeof *arr[i] * COLS);
    if (arr[i])
      // initialize arr[i]
    else
      // panic
  }
}

Note that since you select each row separately, the contents of the array may not be contiguous.

Answer 2

char, malloc, 2D- a[x][y] , , :

/* NOTE: only mildly tested. */
char** allocate2Dchar(int count_x, int count_y) {
    int i;

    # allocate space for actual data
    char *data = malloc(sizeof(char) * count_x * count_y);

    # create array or pointers to first elem in each 2D row
    char **ptr_array = malloc(sizeof(char*) * count_x);
    for (i = 0; i < count_x; i++) {
        ptr_array[i] = data + (i*count_y);
    }
    return ptr_array;
}

, ptr_array . ptr_array[0] ( ).

free() ptr_array , .

/* free data array first, then pointer to rows */
void free2Dchar(char** ptr_array) {
    if (!ptr_array) return;
    if (ptr_array[0]) free(ptr_array[0]);
    free(ptr_array);
}

:

#define ROWS 9
#define COLS 9
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    int i,j, counter = 0;
    char **a2d = allocate2Dchar(ROWS, COLS);

    /* assign values */
    for (i = 0; i < ROWS; i++) {
        for (j = 0; j < COLS; j++) {
            a2d[i][j] = (char)(33 + counter++);
        }
    }

    /* print */
    for (i = 0; i < ROWS; i++) {
        for (j = 0; j < COLS; j++) {
            printf("%c ", a2d[i][j]);
        }
        printf("\n");
    }

    free2Dchar(a2d);
    return 0;
}

:

[me@home]$ gcc -Wall -pedantic main.c
[me@home]$ ./a.out
! " # $ % & ' ( ) 
* + , - . / 0 1 2 
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; 
< = > ? @ A B C D 
E F G H I J K L M 
N O P Q R S T U V 
W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ 
` a b c d e f g h 
i j k l m n o p q 

Answer 3

char **array;
array = malloc(100 * sizeof (char *));

Now you have an array of 100 char pointers.