Initializing a Two-Dimensional Array

When you create a two-dimensional array, you have the option of initializing each element. The technique is based on that for initializing a one-dimensional array. Remember that you do this by providing a comma-separated list of values enclosed in braces:

// initializing a one-dimensional array
int btus[5] = { 23, 26, 24, 31, 28};

For a two-dimensional array, each element is itself an array, so you can initialize each element by using a form like that in the previous code example. Thus, the initialization consists of a comma-separated series of one-dimensional initializations, all enclosed in a set of braces:

int maxtemps[4][5] =   // 2-D array
{
    {96, 100, 87, 101, 105},   // values for maxtemps[0]
    {96, 98, 91, 107, 104},    // values for maxtemps[1]
    {97, 101, 93, 108, 107},   // values for maxtemps[2]
    {98, 103, 95, 109, 108}    // values for maxtemps[3]
};

You can visualize maxtemps as four rows of five numbers each. The term {94, 98, 87, 103, 101} initializes the first row, represented by maxtemps[0]. As a matter of style, placing each row of data on its own line, if possible, makes the data easier to read.