Array

An array is a collection of items stored at contiguous memory locations. The idea is to store multiple items of the same type together. This makes it easier to calculate the position of each element by simply adding an offset to a base value, i.e., the memory location of the first element of the array (generally denoted by the name of the array).

The array is a fixed-size sequenced collection of variables belonging to the same data types. The array has adjacent memory locations to store values. Since the array provides a convenient structure for representing data, it falls under the category of the data structures in C. The syntax for declaring array are:

data_type array_name [array_size];

The following are two terminology are used in Array data structure:

Element: Every item stored in an array is termed as an element


Index: each memory location of an element in an array is denoted by a numerical index which is used for identifying the element.

Why you need ?

When a program works with many variables which hold comparable forms of data, then organizational and managerial difficulty quickly arise. If you are not using arrays, then the number of variables used will increase. Using the array, the number of variables reduces, i.e., you can use a single name for multiple values, you need to deal with its index values (starting from 0 to n).