Thread: Can you merge arrays?

i have a file that contains one thousand numbers
73167176531330624919225119674426574742355349194934
96983520312774506326239578318016984801869478851843
85861560789112949495459501737958331952853208805511
12540698747158523863050715693290963295227443043557
66896648950445244523161731856403098711121722383113
62229893423380308135336276614282806444486645238749
30358907296290491560440772390713810515859307960866
70172427121883998797908792274921901699720888093776
65727333001053367881220235421809751254540594752243
52584907711670556013604839586446706324415722155397
53697817977846174064955149290862569321978468622482
83972241375657056057490261407972968652414535100474
82166370484403199890008895243450658541227588666881
16427171479924442928230863465674813919123162824586
17866458359124566529476545682848912883142607690042
24219022671055626321111109370544217506941658960408
07198403850962455444362981230987879927244284909188
84580156166097919133875499200524063689912560717606
05886116467109405077541002256983155200055935729725
71636269561882670428252483600823257530420752963450

i'm scanning the file using fscanf and inserting each line into a char array in which it will be easier for me to manipulate later on. however, if do fscanf again it will overwrite the array.

so i was thinking that if i have each line inserted into an array and combines all those arrays into one big array, it would be easier for me to complete the task.

is there anything like that?

That would be called "a two-dimensional array".

i know i could use a two dimensional array but if i could somehow combine it all into one big array it would be so much easier for me.

A two-dimensional array is one (big) array, yes.

i'm trying to Find the greatest product of five consecutive digits in the 1000-digit number. so i'll be looking at each index and doing this with a 1D array is easier. I'll use the 2D array if that's my last resort and I don't want to simply change the file so it'll be one long line that contains 1,000 digits. I was thinking that it was possible to fscanf one line of file into an array and fscanf the file again so it'll be in the same array for example
i do fscanf in a file that contains
684681
123456
.
what i want to do is fscanf it, so the array will contain 684681 and fscanf it again so the new array will become 684681123456.
is this possible? if not i guess ill go with the 2D array.

If you're trying to read into a character array, then you're going to have difficulties with the \0 characters that are always there. But fortunately you can overwrite them:

Code:

char Bigarray[1000];
for (i = 0; i < 1000; i += 100) {
    scanf("%s", Bigarray+i);
}

(Edit: This assumes that you know how many digits are on each line. If not, you'll want to use the more fancy parts of scanf, like %n.)

yea, i got that down but is there no way to combine multiple 1D arrays into one giant 1D array? i could do it manually with a for loop but maybe i'm just trying to find an easy way out. guess i'll have to make a 2D array and go from there.

Have you considered using mem copy or mem move?

I haven't used mem copy or move for array's before, but I see no reason not to. Each is just a contiguous block of memory, so it should be no problem.

If you need to delete certain char's or digits though, then a for loop would seem better.

There is no need to make a 2D array for this. (and I wouldn't).

Just don't use scanf. It is simple

Code:

char c;
int i = 0;
char array[1000];
while ((c = getc()) != EOF)
  if (c != '\n') array[i++] =c;

wow i'm so stupid, i completely forgot u could get a single char at a time. i was thinking you could only read one line at a time!! i completely forgot !!! argh!!! i feel so stupid!!!!

also if its very big memory though and its bigger than what you expect you can just declare the variable for holding on the heap and allocate it and if its more then realloc and free in the end

The important thing to undesrtand here though is that all arrays in C is one big array. If you point a pointer to the beginning of a 2D array then you can use it as a 1D array

Originally Posted by iMalc

You're not thinking about the clever way to solve the problem. You only need to store 5 characters at once in memory.
As you read in a char, you place it in a circular buffer. You then update a running product that is divided by the number coming out and multiplied by the number going into the buffer. If this product exceeds your current maximum product, update the maximum.

E.g. your buffer may initially hold 31415, and your running product is therefore 3x1x4x1x5 = 60.

Your next digit is say 9, and the circular buffer head is at position zero. So you take your 60, divide it by 3, giving 20, the multiply that by 9 giving 180 and replace the number in the buffer, giving 91415. You replace your max total with the 180. You'll notice that 9x1x4x1x5 correctly matches the updated running product but that you don't have to multiply all 5 numbers together each time.

Next number is say 2 and your circular buffer head is at position 1. You divide the 180 by 1 and multiply it by 2, giving 360. The buffer now holds 92415 and your max is 360

AHHH that's so true!!! When I first thought u could only get one line at a time, I thought i would have to break up each line but with fgetc it gets the job done. yea my way was pretty bleh... Your way is so elegant and so damn efficient compared to what I was trying to do. Thanks man.