How to allocate a 2D array of pointers in C++ - c++

Question

I'm trying to make a pointer point to a 2D array of pointers. What is the syntax and how would I access elements?

Answer 1

By the letter of the law, here's how to do it:
// Create 2D array of pointers:
int*** array2d = new (int**)[rows];
for (int i = 0; i < rows; ++i) {
array2d[i] = new (int*)[cols];
}
// Null out the pointers contained in the array:
for (int i = 0; i < rows; ++i) {
for (int j = 0; j < cols; ++j) {
array2d[i][j] = NULL;
}
}
Be careful to delete the contained pointers, the row arrays, and the column array all separately and in the correct order.
However, more frequently in C++ you'd create a class that internally managed a 1D array of pointers and overload the function call operator to provide 2D indexing. That way you're really have a contiguous array of pointers, rather than an array of arrays of pointers.

Answer 2

It depends. It can be as simple as:
int main()
{
int* data[10][20]; // Fixed size known at compile time
data[2][3] = new int(4);
}
If you want dynamic sizes at runtime you need to do some work.
But Boost has you covered:
int main()
{
int x;
int y;
getWidthAndHeight(x,y);
// declare a 2D array of int*
boost::multi_array<int*,2> data(boost::extents[x][y]);
data[2][3] = new int(6);
}
If you are fine with jagged arrays that can grow dynamically:
int main()
{
std::vector<std::vector<int*> > data;
data.push_back(std::vector<int*>(10,NULL));
data[0][3] = new int(7);
}
Note: In all the above. I assume that the array does not own the pointer. Thus it has not been doing any management on the pointers it contains (though for brevity I have been using new int() in the examples). To do memory management correctly you need to do some more work.

Answer 3

int *pointerArray[X][Y];
int **ptrToPointerArray = pointerArray;
That's how you make a true (contiguous in memory) multidimensional array.
But realize that once you cast a multidimensional array to a pointer like that, you lose the ability to index it automatically. You would have to do the multidimensional part of the indexing manually:
int *pointerArray[8][6]; // declare array of pointers
int **ptrToPointerArray = &pointerArray[0][0]; // make a pointer to the array
int *foo = pointerArray[3][1]; // access one element in the array
int *bar = *(ptrToPointerArray + 3*8 + 1); // manually perform row-major indexing for 2d array
foo == bar; // true
int *baz = ptrToPointerArray[3][1]; // syntax error

Answer 4

double** array = new double*[rowCnt];
for (int row = 0; row < rowCnt; ++row)
array[row] = new double[colCnt];
for (int row = 0; row < rowCnt; ++row)
for (int col = 0; col < colCnt; ++col)
array[row][col] = 0;

Answer 5

You could try Boost::MultiArray.
Check out this page for details.

Answer 6

:)
I had these once in a piece of code I wrote.
I was the laughing stock of the team when the first bugs leaked out. On top of that we use Hungarian notation, leading to a name like papChannel - a pointer to an array of pointers...
It's not nice. It's nicer to use typedefs to define a 'row of columns' or vice versa. Makes indexing more clear, too.
typedef int Cell;
typedef Cell Row[30];
typedef Row Table[20];
Table * pTable = new Table;
for( Row* pRow = *pTable; pRow != *pTable+_countof(*pTable); ++pRow ) {
for( Cell* pCell = *pRow; pCell != *pRow + _countof(*pRow); ++pCell ) {
... do something with cells.
}
}

Answer 7

You can define a vector of vectors:
typedef my_type *my_pointer;
typedef vector<vector<my_pointer> > my_pointer2D;
Than create a class derived from my_pointer2D, like:
class PointersField: public my_pointer2D
{
PointsField(int n, int m)
{
// Resize vectors....
}
}
PointsField pf(10,10); // Will create a 10x10 matrix of my_pointer

Answer 8

I prefer to use the () operator. There are lots of reasons for this (C++ FAQs 13.10). Change the internal representation to a std::vector if you like:
template <class T, int WIDTH, int HIEGHT>
class Array2d
{
public:
const T& operator ()(size_t col, size_t row) const
{
// Assert col < WIDTH and row < HIEGHT
return m_data [( row * WIDTH + col)];
}
T& operator ()(size_t col, size_t row)
{
// Assert col < WIDTH and row < HIEGHT
return m_data [( row * WIDTH + col)];
}
private:
T m_data[WIDTH * HIEGHT];
};
You can use it like this:
Array2d< Object*, 10, 10 > myObjectArray;
myObjectArray(5,6) = new Object();

Answer 9

See my code. It works on my FC9 x86_64 system:
#include <stdio.h>
template<typename t>
struct array_2d {
struct array_1d {
t *array;
array_1d(void) { array = 0; }
~array_1d()
{
if (array) {
delete[] array;
array = 0;
}
}
t &operator[](size_t index) { return array[index]; }
} *array;
array_2d(void) { array = 0; }
array_2d(array_2d<t> *a) { array = a->array; a->array = 0; }
void init(size_t a, size_t b)
{
array = new array_1d[a];
for (size_t i = 0; i < a; i++) {
array[i].array = new t[b];
}
}
~array_2d()
{
if (array) {
delete[] array;
array = 0;
}
}
array_1d &operator[](size_t index) { return array[index]; }
};
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
array_2d<int> arr = new array_2d<int>;
arr.init(16, 8);
arr[8][2] = 18;
printf("%d\n",
arr[8][2]
);
return 0;
}
Effo UPD: a response to "Isn't that an array of pointers to arrays?", adding the example of array of pointers, very simple:
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
array_2d<int*> parr = new array_2d<int*>;
int i = 10;
parr.init(16, 8);
parr[10][5] = &i;
printf("%p %d\n",
parr[10][5],
parr[10][5][0]
);
return 0;
}
Did I still misunderstand your question?
And you could even
typedef array_2d<int*> cell_type;
typedef array_2d<cell_type*> array_type;
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
array_type parr = new array_type;
parr.init(16, 8);
parr[10][5] = new cell_type;
cell_type *cell = parr[10][5];
cell->init(8, 16);
int i = 10;
(*cell)[2][2] = &i;
printf("%p %d\n",
(*cell)[2][2],
(*cell)[2][2][0]
);
delete cell;
return 0;
}
It also works on my FC9 x86_64 system.