Pointers + Arrays = Headache

Hey all,

I have a 2D array of a Tic Tac Toe gameboard, and I'm trying to figure out how to pass the gameboard (aBoard[3][3]) to a function(void CreateBoard( xxx ))... and I have no idea how to do it.

What would be the best way of doing this? A pointer? Pass the entire array? Can you give me some code (C++) on how to do both? Which ones more effecient?

And if you use a pointer, once I start editing the pointer, how can I make it so it was just like the oroginal game board, so I can manipulate the elements...

Any help would be appreciated.

You can't pass in the whole array, but can pass in a pointer (the name of the array). Although you still need to tell the compiler how many dimensions it has and the size of the right most dimension -

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

void fn(int array[][3] )
{
        array[0][0]=10;
}

int main()
{
        int arr[3][3];
        fn(arr);
        cout << arr[0][0];
        return 0;
}

---

Hey,

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not understanding how your array gets updated, because your function doesn't return anything, nor does it get stored into a variable of some sort. How does it update itself?

Array's by default are passed by reference, this code essentially passes the address of the elements in the array to the function, and any changes to the array in this function will be stored.

Arrays aren't pointers, but array names are pointers to the first element in the array.

Quote:

---

I'm not understanding how your array gets updated

---

Zen's Code:-

Code:

---

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

void fn(int array[][3] )
{
        array[0][0]=10; // This can be any element in the array
}

int main()
{
        int arr[3][3];
        fn(arr);
        cout << arr[0][0];
        return 0;
}

---

Thats updating the array isn't it?

If you want to update the whole array, change zen's code:

Code:

---

void fn(int array[][3] )
{
  array[0][0]=10;
}

---

to

Code:

---

void fn(int array[][3])
{
  for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
      for(int j = 0; j < 3; j++)
        array[i][j] = 0; 
}

---

That will set the array to 0. You can set the array to any int value, of course, like i * j, i++, etc.

"Where genius ends, madness begins."
-Estauns

"Where the madness ends, genius begins."
-Einstein


Pretty cool.