How to Simulate Jagged Arrays in C and C ?

Jagged Arrays in C and C

One may come across the term "jagged array" in discussions about programming languages. However, this concept is not inherently supported in C or C . Jagged arrays refer to an array where each element can be a varying-length array.

In the given code example, an attempt is made to declare a jagged array using the following syntax:

<code class="c">int jagged[][] = { {0,1}, {1,2,3} };</code>

However, C throws an error when compiling, indicating that all dimensions except the first must have bounds specified. This is because C requires arrays to have fixed sizes at compile time.

To simulate jagged arrays in C/C , an approach commonly employed is to utilize an array of pointers. Each pointer in this array points to a dynamically allocated block of memory where elements of a jagged array can be stored.

Example in C:

<code class="c">#include <stdlib.h>

int main() {
    // Initialize array of pointers
    int *jagged[5];

    // Allocate memory for each pointer and set array values
    jagged[0] = malloc(sizeof(int) * 2);
    *(jagged[0]) = 0;
    *(jagged[0] + 1) = 1;

    jagged[1] = malloc(sizeof(int) * 3);
    *(jagged[1]) = 1;
    *(jagged[1] + 1) = 2;
    *(jagged[1] + 2) = 3;

    // Use the jagged array
    // ...

    // Deallocate memory
    free(jagged[0]);
    free(jagged[1]);

    return 0;
}</code>

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