How to initialize all members of an array to the same value

array-initializearraysc++initialization

I have a large array in C (not C++ if that makes a difference). I want to initialize all members of the same value.

I could swear I once knew a simple way to do this. I could use memset() in my case, but isn't there a way to do this that is built right into the C syntax?

Best Solution

Unless that value is 0 (in which case you can omit some part of the initializer and the corresponding elements will be initialized to 0), there's no easy way.

Don't overlook the obvious solution, though:

int myArray[10] = { 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 };

Elements with missing values will be initialized to 0:

int myArray[10] = { 1, 2 }; // initialize to 1,2,0,0,0...

So this will initialize all elements to 0:

int myArray[10] = { 0 }; // all elements 0

In C++, an empty initialization list will also initialize every element to 0. This is not allowed with C:

int myArray[10] = {}; // all elements 0 in C++

Remember that objects with static storage duration will initialize to 0 if no initializer is specified:

static int myArray[10]; // all elements 0

And that "0" doesn't necessarily mean "all-bits-zero", so using the above is better and more portable than memset(). (Floating point values will be initialized to +0, pointers to null value, etc.)

Related Solutions

Javascript – How to check if an array includes a value in JavaScript

Modern browsers have Array#includes, which does exactly that and is widely supported by everyone except IE:

console.log(['joe', 'jane', 'mary'].includes('jane')); //true

You can also use Array#indexOf, which is less direct, but doesn't require polyfills for outdated browsers.

console.log(['joe', 'jane', 'mary'].indexOf('jane') >= 0); //true

Many frameworks also offer similar methods:

jQuery: $.inArray(value, array, [fromIndex])
Underscore.js: _.contains(array, value) (also aliased as _.include and _.includes)
Dojo Toolkit: dojo.indexOf(array, value, [fromIndex, findLast])
Prototype: array.indexOf(value)
MooTools: array.indexOf(value)
MochiKit: findValue(array, value)
MS Ajax: array.indexOf(value)
Ext: Ext.Array.contains(array, value)
Lodash: _.includes(array, value, [from]) (is _.contains prior 4.0.0)
Ramda: R.includes(value, array)

Notice that some frameworks implement this as a function, while others add the function to the array prototype.

Javascript – How to append something to an array

Use the Array.prototype.push method to append values to the end of an array:

// initialize array
var arr = [
  "Hi",
  "Hello",
  "Bonjour"
];

// append new value to the array
arr.push("Hola");

console.log(arr);

You can use the push() function to append more than one value to an array in a single call:

// initialize array
var arr = ["Hi", "Hello", "Bonjour", "Hola"];

// append multiple values to the array
arr.push("Salut", "Hey");

// display all values
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
  console.log(arr[i]);
}

Update

If you want to add the items of one array to another array, you can use firstArray.concat(secondArray):

var arr = [
  "apple",
  "banana",
  "cherry"
];

arr = arr.concat([
  "dragonfruit",
  "elderberry",
  "fig"
]);

console.log(arr);

Update

Just an addition to this answer if you want to prepend any value to the start of an array (i.e. first index) then you can use Array.prototype.unshift for this purpose.

var arr = [1, 2, 3];
arr.unshift(0);
console.log(arr);

It also supports appending multiple values at once just like push.

Update

Another way with ES6 syntax is to return a new array with the spread syntax. This leaves the original array unchanged, but returns a new array with new items appended, compliant with the spirit of functional programming.

const arr = [
  "Hi",
  "Hello",
  "Bonjour",
];

const newArr = [
  ...arr,
  "Salut",
];

console.log(newArr);

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Javascript – How to check if an array includes a value in JavaScript

Javascript – How to append something to an array

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