Printing an array in C++?

Question

Is there a way of printing arrays in C++?

I'm trying to make a function that reverses a user-input array and then prints it out. I tried Googling this problem and it seemed like C++ can't print arrays. That can't be true can it?

Answer 1

Most of the libraries commonly used in C++ can't print arrays, per se. You'll have to loop through it manually and print out each value.

Printing arrays and dumping many different kinds of objects is a feature of higher level languages.

Answer 2

It certainly is! You'll have to loop through the array and print out each item individually.

Answer 3

can't you just iterate over the elements? like this:

for (int i = numElements - 1; i >= 0; i--) 
    cout << array[i];

Answer 4

C++ can print whatever you want if you program it to do so. You'll have to go through the array yourself printing each element.

Answer 5

There are declared arrays and arrays that are not declared, but otherwise created, particularly using new:

int *p = new int[3];

That array with 3 elements is created dynamically (and that 3 could have been calculated at runtime, too), and a pointer to it which has the size erased from its type is assigned to p. You cannot get the size anymore to print that array. A function that only receives the pointer to it can thus not print that array.

Printing declared arrays is easy. You can use sizeof to get their size and pass that size along to the function including a pointer to that array's elements. But you can also create a template that accepts the array, and deduces its size from its declared type:

template<typename Type, int Size>
void print(Type const(& array)[Size]) {
  for(int i=0; i<Size; i++)
    std::cout << array[Size] << std::endl;
}

The problem with this is that it won't accept pointers (obviously). The easiest solution, i think, is to use std::vector. It is a dynamic, resizable "array" (with the semantics you would expect from a real one), which has a size member function:

void print(std::vector<int> const &v) {
  std::vector<int>::size_type i;
  for(i = 0; i<v.size(); i++)
    std::cout << v[i] << std::endl;
}

You can, of course, also make this a template to accept vectors of other types.

Answer 6

Besides the for-loop based solutions, you can also use an ostream_iterator<>. Here's an example that leverages the sample code in the SGI STL reference:

#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <algorithm>

int main()
{
  short foo[] = { 1, 3, 5, 7 };

  using namespace std;
  copy(foo,
       foo + sizeof(foo) / sizeof(foo[0]),
       ostream_iterator<short>(cout, "\n"));
}

This generates the following:

 ./a.out 
1
3
5
7

However, this may be overkill for your needs. A straight for-loop is probably all that you need, although litb's template sugar is quite nice, too.

Edit: Forgot the "printing in reverse" requirement. Here's one way to do it:

#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <algorithm>

int main()
{
  short foo[] = { 1, 3, 5, 7 };

  using namespace std;

  reverse_iterator<short *> begin(foo + sizeof(foo) / sizeof(foo[0]));
  reverse_iterator<short *> end(foo);

  copy(begin,
       end,
       ostream_iterator<short>(cout, "\n"));
}

and the output:

$ ./a.out 
7
5
3
1

Answer 7

Use the STL

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>

int main()
{
    std::vector<int>    userInput;

    // Read until end of input.
    // Hit control D  
    std::copy(std::istream_iterator<int>(std::cin),
              std::istream_iterator<int>(),
              std::back_inserter(userInput)
             );

    // Print in Normal order
    std::copy(userInput.begin(),
              userInput.end(),
              std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout,",")
             );
    std::cout << "\n";

    // Print in reverse order:
    std::copy(userInput.rbegin(),
              userInput.rend(),
              std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout,",")
             );
    std::cout << "\n";
}