One Dimensional and Multidimensional Array with Example

🧑‍💻 By quescol • 📝 Updated on: 10 May 2025

An array is a collection of similar data types (like int, float, or char), which takes memory in a contiguous fashion in Primary memory locations.

We can declare an array in C as

int arr[50];

Where arr is an array with can hold 50 elements of integer types.

Two Type of array:

1). Single/One Dimensional array

2). Multi-Dimensional Array

1. One Dimensional Array

Declaration of one dimensional array:

An array can be declared with the bracket punctuators [ ], as shown in the below syntax:

Data_Type Array_Name[Number_Of_Elements]

The below example shows a declaration of an array having the capacity to hold 50 elements of type integers and the name of that array is arr:

int arr[50];

Initializing the array

We can initialize an array in C by assigning value to each index one by one or by using a single statement as follows −

Example 1 :

Assign one value each time to the array

int arr[50];

arr[0]=12;
arr[1]= 43;
arr[2] = 14;
.
.
.
.
.
arr[49] = 54;

Example 2:

Using a single statement

int arr[5] = {10,32,11,45,38};

One Dimensional Array Program in C

#include<stdio.h> 
int main () { 
   int arr[10];
   int i,j; 
   for ( i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
      arr[i] = i + 10;
   }   
   for (j = 0; j < 10; j++ ) {
      printf("arr[%d] = %d\n", j, arr[j] );
   } 
   return 0;
}

Output

arr[0] = 10
arr[1] = 11
arr[2] = 12
arr[3] = 13
arr[4] = 14
arr[5] = 15
arr[6] = 16
arr[7] = 17
arr[8] = 18
arr[9] = 19

2. Multidimensional Arrays

We can say a Multidimensional array is an array of arrays. Two Dimensional arrays is also a multidimensional array. In a Multi-Dimensional array, elements of an array are arranged in the form of rows and columns.
Multidimensional array stores elements in tabular form which is also known as in row-major order or column-major order.

Declaration of Multi-dimensional Array

data_type array_name[size1][size2]....[sizeN];

data_type: It defines the type of data that can be held by an array. Here data_type can be int, char, float. etc.

array_name: Name of the array

size1, size2,… ,sizeN: Sizes of the dimensions

Two-dimensional array

Pictorial representation of a Two-dimensional array

number_of_arrays: number of arrays which flow in the z-axis

rows: number of the rows in the y-axis

columns: number of the columns flow in the x-axis

int arr1[10][20];

Two-dimensional array initialization

int arr[5][4]={
	{1,2,3},
	{2,3,4},
	{3,4,5},
	{4,5,6},
	{5,6,7}
	};

Two Dimensional Array Implementation in C

#include<stdio.h> 
int main(){      
int i=0,j=0;    
int arr[5][4]={{1,2,3},{2,3,4},{3,4,5},{4,5,6},{5,6,7}};     
for(i=0;i<5;i++){    
 for(j=0;j<4;j++){    
   printf("arr[%d] [%d] = %d \n",i,j,arr[i][j]);    
 }  
}  
return 0;  
}

Output

arr[0] [0] = 1 
arr[0] [1] = 2 
arr[0] [2] = 3 
arr[0] [3] = 0 
arr[1] [0] = 2 
arr[1] [1] = 3 
arr[1] [2] = 4 
arr[1] [3] = 0 
arr[2] [0] = 3 
arr[2] [1] = 4 
arr[2] [2] = 5 
arr[2] [3] = 0 
arr[3] [0] = 4 
arr[3] [1] = 5 
arr[3] [2] = 6 
arr[3] [3] = 0 
arr[4] [0] = 5 
arr[4] [1] = 6 
arr[4] [2] = 7 
arr[4] [3] = 0

Three dimensional array

Pictorial representation of a Three dimensional array

int arr2[10][20][30];

Three Dimensional Array array initialization

int arr[2][3][4] = { 
                     { {5, 6, 1, 9}, {10, -3, 91, 61}, {73, 32, 83, 22} },
                     { {13, 43, 56, 36}, {25, 9, 93, 55}, {39, 21, 74, 6} }
                 };

Three-dimensional array Implementation in C

#include<stdio.h> 
int main()
{
    int i, j, k, arr[2][3][4];
    printf("Enter 24 values for 3-D array: \n");
    for(i = 0; i < 2; ++i) {
        for (j = 0; j < 3; ++j) {
            for(k = 0; k < 4; ++k ) {
                scanf("%d", &arr[i][j][k]);
            }
        }
    } 
    printf("\nDisplaying the values of 3-D array:\n");
    for(i = 0; i < 2; ++i) {
        for (j = 0; j < 3; ++j) {
            for(k = 0; k < 4; ++k ) {
                printf("arr[%d][%d][%d] = %d\n", i, j, k, arr[i][j][k]);
            }
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter 24 values for 3-D array: 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
12
3
4
5
6
7

Displaying the values of 3-D array:
arr[0][0][0] = 1
arr[0][0][1] = 2
arr[0][0][2] = 3
arr[0][0][3] = 4
arr[0][1][0] = 5
arr[0][1][1] = 6
arr[0][1][2] = 7
arr[0][1][3] = 8
arr[0][2][0] = 9
arr[0][2][1] = 1
arr[0][2][2] = 2
arr[0][2][3] = 3
arr[1][0][0] = 4
arr[1][0][1] = 5
arr[1][0][2] = 6
arr[1][0][3] = 7
arr[1][1][0] = 8
arr[1][1][1] = 9
arr[1][1][2] = 12
arr[1][1][3] = 3
arr[1][2][0] = 4
arr[1][2][1] = 5
arr[1][2][2] = 6
arr[1][2][3] = 7