Practical C++

Chapter 6. Using Arrays

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• Learn how to define and initialize an array

• Learn how to access array elements

• See how to use loops with arrays

• Find and replace text and formatting

• Learn to use multi-dimensional arrays

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Why Use Arrays?

With the exception of character strings, the data types and variables you’ve seen up to this point have been simple data types that store only a single value. Consider these two variables:

char ch = 'B';
int num = 134;

Variables like these are called scalar variables. They can contain only a single value at a time, and you can’t subdivide them further; they are elemental. An array is a group of variables having the same data type.

In writing efficient programs, it’s often convenient to have an array of variables ...