array

[cat5ive]

Hi,

How can I declare a char array that will contain 50 names and max. length of each name is 30.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Marikallees]

The simple way is

#define N 50
#define MAX_LENGTH 31

char names[N][MAX_LENGTH];

This gives you an array of 50 arrays of 30 characters. But if the maximum length of each name is 30 and the expected length is considerably less, you might be better off with dynamic allocation:

#define N 50
#define MAX_LENGTH 31

char *names[N];

Then for each new name, you use a buffer of length MAX_LENGTH to read the name, and malloc to simulate arrays that are "just big enough" for each name on an idividual basis:

char buffer[MAX_LENGTH];
int i = 0;

while (fgets(buffer, sizeof buffer, stdin) != NULL) {
names = malloc(strlen(buffer) + 1);
if (names == NULL)
panic();
strcpy(names, buffer);
++i;
}

But if you do it that way, don't forget to release your memory when you're done with it:

while (--i >= 0)
free(names);