Issue in initializer for char string array

Question

I am an Arduino noob attempting to select a random name from this array:

char ns[ ][3] = {"Carlos Alberto Castronovo","Tom Erbaugh","Caterina De Giacco","Di Puglia Pugliese Filomena","Manishwar Dhillon","Mel Richards","Connie Hvidtfeldt","Amy Namehere","Tim Beck","Sanil Sethi","Christophe Lavault","Steven Grimes","Jessica Serra","Mariateresa Petrucci","Patricia Anderson","Felma Roberto Cinco","Mai Ahmed","Tobe Levy","Indah Suspriati Wibawa","Dain Turgeon Orbe","Li Wang","Ed Clark","Elodie da Silva","Jason Garcia","Allan Litswa","Pietro Zubani","Cyril Jeanpierre","Kate Denali Princess","Maria Pilar Gl","Jefferson Ricarte","Adam Reed","LÃ¡szlÃ³ LiptÃ¡k","Thalia Dbl","Maria Jose Calle Salas","William Alexander","Nicole Richardson","Andrea Hescher","Ismail Sholeh","Simone Spacci","Jason Jankow"};

But I receive this error, and I am not sure about different data types and how to approach fixing this array:

error: initializer-string for array of chars is too long

Is there something basic that I am missing?

That three looks awfully small for that huge thingy on the right... — danielschemmel
– danielschemmel, Commented Apr 24, 2014 at 23:22

Natan Streppel · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-25 00:14:08Z

4

It is exactly what it is informing: your character strings are way too long to fit in your char array, so your compiler is telling you that it will not proceed any further.

You can make it work by enhancing the size of your arrays like this:

char ns[ ][30] = //... ;

The 30 here is just to represent your biggest char string; it needs to have the size of your largest predefined char string + 1 (so that the null terminating character \0 can be added). For example, if your biggest string were "apple", your array would need to be of, at least, length 6.

You can iterate through these strings by doing this, for example:

int array_items = sizeof(ns) / sizeof(*ns); // this will gives you the amount of items stored in your array
int i;
int j;
for (i = 0; i < array_items; ++i) {
   size_t strSize = strlen(ns[i]); // strSize now contains, if ns[i] contained the example of apple, 5
    for (j = 0; j < strSize; ++j) {
        printf("%c", ns[i][j]);
    }
  printf("\n");
}

edited Apr 25, 2014 at 0:14

answered Apr 24, 2014 at 23:24

Natan Streppel

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4 Comments

JLF Over a year ago

But it won't iterate as ns[ ][x] whereas x is a random number

Natan Streppel Over a year ago

You want to iterate through your strings? You need to define which string is going to be iterated through (that's your first set of [], for example ns[0][4] gives you the fifth character of your first string). If x is a random number, it has to be lower than your maximum string length (for example, 30, as in my answer)

JLF Over a year ago

What if I want to iterate the entire string (the whole value of the key)?

JLF Over a year ago

This all helped a lot, the updated answer fixed everything. I appreciate your contribution big time.

dlf · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-24 23:35:44Z

1

That [3] means each string is limited to a maximum of 3 characters. And since one has to be the null terminator, it really means two. Your strings are a lot longer than that. Choose a number that's big enough to accommodate all of them.

ETA: @JLF: are you my long lost brother? :)

edited Apr 24, 2014 at 23:35

answered Apr 24, 2014 at 23:26

dlf

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2 Comments

JLF Over a year ago

How can a value be iterated though? ns[ ][x] whereas x is a random number does not work. and yes we must be related lolol!

dlf Over a year ago

Not sure I understand; in char ns[i][j], i is the total number of strings (should be 40 in your case if I counted right, though leaving it blank tells the compiler to do the counting for you) and j must the maximum length of any individual string + 1 (you can't leave this one blank). Pick a number like 50 that should be more than enough, and it should work. I don't have a compiler in front of me right now to confirm, though.

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