Strings in multidimensional array in C

Question

How can i define an array in C language for strings without using pointers ? I am trying to create a chessboard.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void){

char board[8][8] = {{ "R1 ", "N1 ", "B1 ", "QU ", "KI ", "B2 ", "N2 ", "R2 "},

                   { "P1 ", "P2 ", "P3 ", "P4 ", "P5 ", "P6 ", "P7 ", "P8 "},
                   { "","","","","","","",""},
                   { "","","","","","","",""},
                   { "","","","","","","",""},
                   { "","","","","","","",""},
                   { "p1 ", "p2 ", "p3 ", "p4 ", "p5 ", "p6 ", "p7 ", "p8" },
                   {"r1 ", "n1 ", "b1 ", "qu ", "ki ", "b2 ", "n2 ", "r2 "}};

}

I get an error " excess elements in char array initializer ". What should i do ? I am not allowed to using pointer.

You are placing strings and not chars as elements in your char array. — amit
– amit, Commented Dec 1, 2013 at 11:09
strings in C are char arrays. you can't get a string with no pointers. — elyashiv
– elyashiv, Commented Dec 1, 2013 at 11:10
Your initialiser it an initialiser for char * board[8][8]. It carries 8X8 "strings". char[8][8] expects 8X8 chars. — alk
– alk, Commented Dec 1, 2013 at 11:11
This is an 8x8 array of char: char board[8][8]. You want an 8x8 array of strings: char *board[8][8]. — paulsm4
– paulsm4, Commented Dec 1, 2013 at 11:16

Mario · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-01 12:07:40Z

5

You're defining a 2D array consisting of strings. Since strings themselves are arrays in C/C++, you're essentially creating a 3D array.

There are multiple ways to fix this:

You can use char *board[8][8] to define an 8x8 array of pointers to the strings.
You can use char board[8][8][4] to add the missing dimension (this uses the same memory no matter how long single entries are; each entry may have up to 3 characters plus 1 terminator).

As a side note, you should use the const keyword, as you typically won't want to modify the string contents.

edited Dec 1, 2013 at 12:07

answered Dec 1, 2013 at 11:14

Mario

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