edit a range of elements inside a 2d array? - c++

Question

well ive been trying to edit the element of an array so lets assume that we have a 2d array
so
a 2d array 9 x 9;
for(... ... ... ++)
{
for(.. ... ...++){}
}
lets say that the code will use another set of for loops to display the 2d array its a simple array nothing fancy
00000000
00000000
00000000...
so if i wanted to to display an E from elements[1][0] to [2][3] how would i do that?
00000000
eeeeeeee
eeee0000
00000000
what i had in mind was something like while(x < y)
{ array[x++][y];}
but this idea doesnt seem to work.
would gladly take any help. thx
for(int i=0; i<9; i++) //This loops on the rows.
{
for(int j=0; j<9; j++) //This loops on the columns
{
board[i][j] = grid; // set the array to the char on grid '0'.
}
}
board[s_col][s_row] = 'Z';
while(s_col < e_col)//s_col is the start of the rows and columns
//{
//if(s_col != e_col)
{
++s_col;
board[s_col][s_row];
}
//}
//cout << board[s_col][s_row++] <<endl;
// display the array
for(int i=0; i<9; i++) //This loops on the rows.
{
for(int j=0; j<9; j++) //This loops on the columns
{
cout << board[i][j] << " ";
}
cout << endl;
}

Answer 1

You were on the right track with the approach:
for(... ... ... ++)
{
for(.. ... ...++){}
}
Here is some code that should help you:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <memory.h>
#define MAX_ROW 4
#define MAX_COL 8
void fillRange(char fillChar, int startRow, int startCol, int count);
char myArray[MAX_ROW][MAX_COL];
void printArray();
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
memset(myArray, '0', sizeof(myArray));
printf("\nBefore:\n");
printArray();
fillRange('e', 1, 0, 12);
printf("\nAfter:\n");
printArray();
}
void fillRange(char fillChar, int startRow, int startCol, int count)
{
int i, j, filledChars = 0;
for(i = startRow; i < MAX_ROW; i++)
{
for(j = startCol; j < MAX_COL; j++)
{
myArray[i][j] = fillChar;
if(++filledChars == count)
return;
}
}
}
void printArray()
{
int i, j;
for(i = 0; i < MAX_ROW; i++)
{
for(j = 0; j < MAX_COL; j++)
putchar(myArray[i][j]);
printf("\n");
}
}
If you instead wanted to end at a particular point in the array then you just need to change the condition that triggers the return.

Answer 2

This is one of the many reasons why the more coding you do the more you tend to avoid 2D arrays of the sort you have.
Instead you use a 1D array like this: board[i][j] == board_1D[i*num_columns+j]. That also means you can just iterate through the entire board in a single for loop.
Now you simply calculate the begin and end indices of your e range, and simply test if your counter is within that range. In other words, you have a single if statement inside your inner-most loop.
You can, of course, convert your i,j 2D indices into the equivalent 1D index and take the same approach. index_1D = i*9+j;
I'll leave the code to you.

Answer 3

Dealing with a sequence of adjacent values is easiest done when you have an underlying contiguous array and you don't need to deal with double indexing (see Adam's answer on that). However, in your simple case it also quite doable:
You'd initialize your row and column variables with the start row and column (in your case 0 and 1). You then walk with your column until you reached either the target column (2) and you are on the target row (3) or you reached the end of the matrix in which case you set the column to 0 and increment the row.