CODEWITHSUNDEEP
carraysstruct
Calvin Godfrey
Calvin Godfrey

Reputation: 2359

How can I copy a struct member array to a variable?

I have the following basic C example:

#include <stdio.h>

struct Example {
    double arr[4][4];
    int size;
};

int main()
{
    struct Example e = {
        {{1., 0., 0., 0.},
         {0., 1., 0., 0.},
         {0., 0., 1., 0.},
         {0., 0., 0., 1.}},
         4
    };
    double** arr = e.arr;

    printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[0][0], arr[0][1], arr[0][2], arr[0][3]);
    printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[1][0], arr[1][1], arr[1][2], arr[1][3]);
    printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[2][0], arr[2][1], arr[2][2], arr[2][3]);
    printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[3][0], arr[3][1], arr[3][2], arr[3][3]);
}

What do I have to do to make the printf successfully print out the values in the matrix? If I declare arr as double** I get a segfault. If I try double* then it complains when I try to do double indexing. I've also tried double arr[4][4] = e.arr, but the compiler just tells me that it's an invalid initializer. What's the proper way to do this?

(I realize size is redundant in this example, I just wanted the struct to have more than one member.)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 58

Answers (2)

Shubham
Shubham

Reputation: 1153

Alternative to the answer given by @AndersK, you can also try this.

#include <stdio.h>

struct Example {
    double arr[4][4];
    int size;
};

int main()
{
    int i, j;
    struct Example e = {
        {{1., 0., 0., 0.},
         {0., 1., 0., 0.},
         {0., 0., 1., 0.},
         {0., 0., 0., 1.}},
         4
    };
    double *arr = (double *)e.arr;

    for(i = 0; i < 4; ++i)
    {
        for(j = 0; j < 4; ++j)
            printf("%8.5f ", *(arr+i*4+j));
        putchar('\n');
    }
    return 0;
}

In this we are pointing to the first block of memory where e.arr[0] is stored, then we are traversing through the consecutive memory location using this expression (arr+i*4+j).

Upvotes: 0

AndersK
AndersK

Reputation: 36082

You can do like this since the values of double arr[4][4] are consecutive in memory

double* arr = e.arr[0]; // points to first value

printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[0], arr[1], arr[2], arr[3]);
printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[4], arr[5], arr[6], arr[7]);
printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[8], arr[9], arr[10], arr[11]);
printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr[12], arr[13], arr[14], arr[15]);

or alternatively, as @ismick pointed out in his comment you can write it like

double (*arr2)[4] = e.arr ;

printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr2[0][0], arr2[0][1], arr2[0][2], arr2[0][3]);
printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr2[1][0], arr2[1][1], arr2[1][2], arr2[1][3]);
printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr2[2][0], arr2[2][1], arr2[2][2], arr2[2][3]);
printf("%8.5f %8.5f %8.5f %8.5f\n", arr2[3][0], arr2[3][1], arr2[3][2], arr2[3][3]);

if you want that syntax.

Upvotes: 1

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