Type Aliases Simplify Pointers to Multidimensional Arrays

A type alias (§ 2.5.1, p. 67) can make it easier to read, write, and understand pointers to multidimensional arrays. For example:

using int_array = int[4]; // new style type alias declaration; see § 2.5.1 (p. 68)
typedef int int_array[4]; // equivalent typedef declaration; § 2.5.1 (p. 67)
// print the value of each element in ia, with each inner array on its own line
for (int_array *p = ia; p != ia + 3; ++p) {
    for (int *q = *p; q != *p + 4; ++q)
         cout << *q << ' ';
    cout << endl;
}

Here we start by defining int_array as a name for the type “array of four ints.” We use that type name to define our loop control variable in the outer for loop.