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In computer programming, a variable-length array (VLA), also called variable-sized or runtime-sized, is an array data structure whose length is determined at runtime, instead of at compile time. [1] In the language C , the VLA is said to have a variably modified data type that depends on a value (see Dependent type ).
sizeof can be used to determine the number of elements in an array, by dividing the size of the entire array by the size of a single element. This should be used with caution; When passing an array to another function, it will "decay" to a pointer type. At this point, sizeof will return the size of the pointer, not the total size of the array.
C99 and C11 added several additional features to C that have not been incorporated into standard C++ as of C++20, such as complex numbers, variable length arrays (complex numbers and variable length arrays are designated as optional extensions in C11), flexible array members, the restrict keyword, array parameter qualifiers, and compound literals.
C struct data types may end with a flexible array member [1] with no specified size: struct vectord { short len ; // there must be at least one other data member double arr []; // the flexible array member must be last // The compiler may reserve extra padding space here, like it can between struct members };
For every type T, except void and function types, there exist the types "array of N elements of type T". An array is a collection of values, all of the same type, stored contiguously in memory. An array of size N is indexed by integers from 0 up to and including N−1. Here is a brief example:
Therefore, although function calls in C use pass-by-value semantics, arrays are in effect passed by reference. The total size of an array x can be determined by applying sizeof to an expression of array type. The size of an element can be determined by applying the operator sizeof to any dereferenced element of an array A, as in n = sizeof A[0].
C has the ability to initialize arrays of arbitrary length. The sizeof operator can be used to obtain the size of a statically initialized array in C code. For instance, in the following code, the terminating index for the loop automatically adjusts should the list of strings be changed.
C++ destructors for local variables are called at the end of the object lifetime, allowing a discipline for automatic resource management termed RAII, which is widely used in C++. Member variables are created when the parent object is created. Array members are initialized from 0 to the last member of the array in order.