defining and calling functions with multidimentional arrays as arguments

Hello this is my first post, so... please help me.
I want to create a function that prints the content of a matrix(2d array).
I know that in order to set a matrix as a argumentin a function I have to do it like this
(example)

Code:

void printMatrix(matrix[][N], size){
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<size;i++)
for(j=0;j<N;j++)
printf("matrix[%d][%d]",i,j);
}

or something like that... but in this case I am supposed to know the value of N.
and that is my problem. Because i don't know the value of N
I want to create a function that can work on any size of matrix

a friend told me that :

Code:

void printMatrix( *matrix[], size){
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<size;i++)
for(j=0;j<size;j++)
printf("matrix[%d][%d]",i,j);
}

would work fine.... and actually when compiling there is no problem in the declaration, but the problem is in the calling line.

How should i call this function?
(i was calling it
printMatrix(someMatrix,6)
but it doenst work fine)
help.

If i understood correctly you need dynamic memory allocation not static.The problem is that you know the dimensions of the array only at run time?

No, I don't need them at run time, but I want to use this function with different values of size in my program, ...., not only once.

Ok again, i am not quite sure i understood, but what if you tried this :

Code:

//prototype
void printMatrix( int ** matrix_name , int number_of_rows , int number of columns ) ; 

//call it like this somewhere in a function

 printMatrix( someMatrix , 5 , 5 )  ; // in that case someMatrix is [5][5]

Hmmmm dont spend time tryin this . I did ; it 's mistaken

Code:

void printMatrix( int **matrix, int size)
{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<size;i++)
   for(j=0;j<size;j++)
      printf("matrix[%d][%d]",i,j);
}

I wrote that .... but :
i60-41-158-186:~/Desktop/tuesday4_2 nacho$ gcc 1122.c
1122.c: In function 'printflow':
1122.c:106: warning: passing argument 1 of 'printMatrix' from incompatible pointer type
i60-41-158-186:~/Desktop/tuesday4_2 nacho$

Yeap it is wrong .Sorry .I guess i should have tried at first place .Before posting

this is my code:

Code:

#include<stdio.h>
int main(){
int matrix1[5][5]={0,0,0,0,0,0,4,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,9,0,4,5,0,0,0};
int matrix2[4][4]={0,5,0,0,6,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,3,0};
int matrix3[2][2]={0,4,0,0};
printf("calling printMatrix");
printMatrix(matrix1,5);
printMatrix(matrix2,4);
printMatrix(matrix3,2);

return 0;

}
void printMatrix( int **matrix, int size)
{
	int i,j;
	for(i=0;i<size;i++){
		for(j=0;j<size;j++)
			printf("%3d",matrix[i][j]);
		printf("\n");
	}
}

and when compiling

Code:

i60-41-158-186:~/Desktop/tuesday4_2 nacho$ gcc codeTesting.c
codeTesting.c:15: warning: conflicting types for 'printMatrix'
codeTesting.c:7: warning: previous implicit declaration of 'printMatrix' was here

and when executing...

Code:

i60-41-158-186:~/Desktop/tuesday4_2 nacho$ ./a.out
Bus error
i60-41-158-186:~/Desktop/tuesday4_2 nacho$

what to do??

You can't just declare a parameter type with ** and expect to pass any old 2D array to the function.

http://c-faq.com/aryptr/ary2dfunc2.html

If you have a function
void f ( int a[ ][10] );

Then you can have
int a[5][10], b[10][10], c[1000][10];
and calls
f(a);f(b);f(c);

The major dimension can be anything you like, but all the minor dimensions have to match the declaration of the function exactly.

This is what I wanted to do it...
(I got the solution from another forum... thanks twomers)

Code:

#include<stdio.h> 

void print ( int *pnum, int x, int y ) 
{ int j,i;
   for (j=0; j<y; j++, printf("\n") ) 
   { 
      for (i=0; i<x; i++ ) 
      { 
         printf( "%d ", *pnum ); 

         *pnum++; 
      } 
   } 
} 

int main( void ) 
{ 
   int test22[2][2] = {{9, 8}, {7, 6}}; 
   int test23[2][3] = {{9, 8, 7}, {6, 5, 4}}; 
   int test33[3][3] = {{9, 8, 7}, {6, 5, 4}, {3, 2, 1}}; 
   int test24[2][4] = {{9, 8, 7, 6}, {5, 4, 3, 2}}; 


   printf( "Printing 2x2 matrix\n" ); 
   print( &test22[0][0], 2, 2 ); 
    
   printf( "\nPrinting 2x3 matrix\n" ); 
   print( &test23[0][0], 3, 2 ); 

   printf( "\nPrinting 3x3 matrix\n" ); 
   print( &test33[0][0], 3, 3 ); 
    
   printf( "\nPrinting 2x4 matrix\n" ); 
   print( &test24[0][0], 4, 2 ); 
	
   return 0; 
}

thanks twomers! ...

Thanks Nacho that was exactly what i was looking for! This print function can run for any 2D array. But your code contains 1 error it shouldn't be *pnum++ but it should be pnum++ since we are incrementing address by 2 bytes