Problems with arrays

I have been trying to create a program to read a 4 column tab-delineated file into a variably sized array and then print the array to the screen, but when I try the code below, it gives me a diagonally symmetrical array, ie [0][1] is the same as [1][0], which is wrong.
This is my code:

Code:

int main ()
{
    FILE *file_ptr = 0;


    int nrows;
    nrows=1;
    float a,b;
    int i;
    int j;  
    char data[100];  
    float e,f,c,d; 
    float myarray[10][nrows];


    printf("Enter location of input file.\n");
    scanf("%s", data);


    file_ptr = fopen(data, "r");
    for (i=0; !feof(file_ptr); i++)
    {
        fscanf(file_ptr,"%f%f%f%f",&e,&f,&c,&d);
        myarray[0][i]=e;
        myarray[1][i]=f;
        myarray[2][i]=c;
        myarray[3][i]=d;
               if (e =!NULL){nrows++;}
    }
    fclose(file_ptr);
    
    printf("\n%d data sets retrieved.\n\n",i);


        for (j=0;j<i;j++)
        {
           printf("%f\t%f\t%f\t%f\n",myarray[0][j],myarray[1][j],myarray[2][j],myarray[3][j]);
        }
    return 0;
}

And the data set I am working with is

13.079 0.051658 0.77359 0.00052980
14.162 0.051750 0.0097982 0.0019695
15.888 0.054027 0.80159 0.0019485
16.191 0.054512 0.62303 8.9929e-05
17.339 0.055797 0.99587 0.00041386
18.784 0.056146 0.25421 0.0016562
19.967 0.056846 0.60045 0.00038078
20.437 0.058294 0.61663 0.00014638
21.397 0.058011 0.026190 0.00032348
22.998 0.059799 0.26090 0.00092712
23.456 0.059883 0.64564 0.0016402
24.070 0.060772 0.83006 0.0017486
25.109 0.060415 0.80091 0.00093706
26.887 0.061940 0.80918 6.3588e-05
27.527 0.063505 0.86446 0.0012275
28.860 0.064270 0.31924 0.0014887
29.616 0.063735 0.63400 0.0016803
30.430 0.065634 0.64624 0.00025035
31.863 0.067435 0.20427 0.00051878
32.326 0.067050 0.0066200 0.00017732
33.043 0.068377 0.71793 0.0017101

What am I doing wrong? I am fairly new to coding, so simple answers would be much appreciated!

Variable size arrays are not arrays that magically grow when you try to access their elements.

You need to specify the size of a variable-size array when you create it. The only difference is that the size of a variable size array might not be known until run time. But, when the program is running, the size still has to be known BEFORE the array can be created.

Also

Code:

    int nrows;         /* uninitialised, so value of nrows is indeterminate */
    float x[nrows];  /* undefined behaviour.  Accessing nrows is an invalid operation */

    ++nrows;    /*   this changes nrows.   It does not resize x */

You need to understand some things about 2 dimensional arrays
Let array be a 2D array

• When i write array[i][j] i am referring to row i and column j .Each element in a 2D array needs two coordinates to be specifies uniquely.
• When we want to access 2D arrays,we usually do it with a double for loop,like below
  
  Code:

       int array[4][4];
       int i,j;
       for(int i=0 ; i<4 ; i++)
       {  
                 for(int j=0 ; j<4 ; j++)
                 {
                            array[i][j]=0;
                  }
        }

  This way i filled up every single cell of the array with zeros.First it will fill the first row(starting from the first element of it),or in other words,array[0][0] will be filled up,then array[0][1] and so on..
  

In your code,you have several issues with the arrays.
[List][*]

Code:

float myarray[10][nrows];

Now you declared a 2D array with 10 rows and nrows columns.Of course the nrows variable's name is not good.Actually it is good,but misued.
So i suggest you to change it in something like this

Code:

 float myarray[nrwos][4];

,where nrows is the number of rows that are in the text file (.txt) you are reading from and 4 columns why every row in your file has 4 columns
[*]

Code:

  
        myarray[0][i]=e;
        myarray[1][i]=f;
        myarray[2][i]=c;
        myarray[3][i]=d;

first we are reading the very first cell of the array,thus myarray[0][0].then the second cell of the array,thus myarray[0][1] and so on...So this part of code should be changed into this

Code:

        myarray[i][0]=e;
        myarray[i][1]=f;
        myarray[i][2]=c;
        myarray[i][3=d;

[*]

Code:

        for (j=0;j<i;j++)
        {
           printf("%f\t%f\t%f\t%f\n",myarray[0][j],myarray[1][j],myarray[2][j],myarray[3][j]);
        }

This is wrong and not readable.Please follow my advice and write it like this..

Code:

        for (i=0;i<4;i++)
        {
            for(j=0;j<4;j++)
            {
                 printf("%f\t",myarray[i][j]);
            } 
            printf("\n");
        }

Here we use the double for structure to read a 2D array.This is very flexible and easy to use,so i suggest you take a good look at it.The print that changes a line is positioned there,because at this point,the loop is done with every line that it goes through...

In conclusion

Code:

#include <stdio.h>


int main ()
{
    FILE *file_ptr = 0;


    int nrows;
    nrows=1;
    float a,b;
    int i;
    int j;
    char data[100];
    float e,f,c,d;
    float myarray[4][4];


    printf("Enter location of input file.\n");
    scanf("%s", data);


    file_ptr = fopen(data, "r");
    for (i=0; !feof(file_ptr); i++)
    {
        fscanf(file_ptr,"%f%f%f%f",&e,&f,&c,&d);printf("read %f || %f || %f || %f \n",e,f,c,d);
        myarray[i][0]=e;
        myarray[i][1]=f;
        myarray[i][2]=c;
        myarray[i][3]=d;
               if (e =!NULL){nrows++;}
    }
    fclose(file_ptr);

    printf("\n%d data sets retrieved.\n\n",i);


        for (i=0;i<4;i++)
       {
                 for(j=0;j<4;j++)
                 {
                        printf("%f\t",myarray[i][j]);
                 }
       }
       return 0;
}

Originally Posted by Eleanor Odell

Code:

    int nrows;
    nrows=1;

Code:

    float myarray[10][nrows];

You allocated only 1 row to your array. Arrays in C do not automatically expand when you change the variable that was used in its allocation (in this case, nrows).

There are a few solutions to this. The easiest is to set nrows to a value at least as large as the maximum number of lines you expect to read from a file. This will limit your program to that number of lines. Another solution is to dynamically allocate and reallocate the array to fit more rows. Use the malloc and realloc functions for this (and you should put rows first in your array, ie myarray[rows][columns]). Another possibility is to change your algorithm so that it doesn't have to store more than one row at a time; perhaps you can print each row as you read it. Then you won't need an array at all.

Also read FAQ > Why it's bad to use feof() to control a loop - Cprogramming.com

Originally Posted by grumpy

Also

Code:

    int nrows;         /* uninitialised, so value of nrows is indeterminate */
    float x[nrows];  /* undefined behaviour.  Accessing nrows is an invalid operation */

    ++nrows;    /*   this changes nrows.   It does not resize x */

Thanks, it's a bit better now, but it still puts wrong values into the array and I have no idea where they are coming from...

What is your updated code?

Originally Posted by std10093

In conclusion

Code:

#include <stdio.h>


int main ()
{
    FILE *file_ptr = 0;


    int nrows;
    nrows=1;
    float a,b;
    int i;
    int j;
    char data[100];
    float e,f,c,d;
    float myarray[4][4];


    printf("Enter location of input file.\n");
    scanf("%s", data);


    file_ptr = fopen(data, "r");
    for (i=0; !feof(file_ptr); i++)
    {
        fscanf(file_ptr,"%f%f%f%f",&e,&f,&c,&d);printf("read %f || %f || %f || %f \n",e,f,c,d);
        myarray[i][0]=e;
        myarray[i][1]=f;
        myarray[i][2]=c;
        myarray[i][3]=d;
               if (e =!NULL){nrows++;}
    }
    fclose(file_ptr);

    printf("\n%d data sets retrieved.\n\n",i);


        for (i=0;i<4;i++)
       {
                 for(j=0;j<4;j++)
                 {
                        printf("%f\t",myarray[i][j]);
                 }
       }
       return 0;
}

Thank you so much, that's way better!

Your code has a buffer overrun if you read more than 4 lines from the file (which, I guess, is better than 1 line as before). It also still misuses feof for checking for end of file.

What are you trying to do with this line?

Code:

               if (e =!NULL){nrows++;}

What that line actually does is sets e to 1 (NULL is 0, so !NULL is 1) and then always increments nrows (which isn't used anymore in the updated code).

Lastly, what do you think happens when the file cannot be opened for reading?

Originally Posted by Eleanor Odell

Thank you so much, that's way better!

I hope you did not skip my explanation above and jump into the code..Because this is not good for you.Notice that this code is going to work only for 4 rows -text file.You have to adjust it for more.

Also take a good look at what christop said abou this Also read FAQ > Why it's bad to use feof() to control a loop - Cprogramming.com