Iterate Multi-Dimensional Array with Nested Foreach Statement

Question

I think this might be a pretty simple question, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet. If I've got a 2-dimensional array like so:

int[,] = new int[2,3] { {1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6} };

What's the best way to iterate through each dimension of the array with a nested foreach statement?

Answer 1

With multidimensional arrays, you can use the same method to iterate through the elements, for example:

int[,] numbers2D = new int[3, 2] { { 9, 99 }, { 3, 33 }, { 5, 55 } };
foreach (int i in numbers2D)
{
    System.Console.Write("{0} ", i);
}

The output of this example is:

9 99 3 33 5 55

References

• MSDN: Using foreach with Arrays

---

In Java, multidimensional arrays are array of arrays, so the following works:

    int[][] table = {
            { 1, 2, 3 },
            { 4, 5, 6 },
    };
    for (int[] row : table) {
        for (int el : row) {
            System.out.println(el);
        }
    }

Answer 2

Here's how to visit each element in a 2-dimensional array. Is this what you were looking for?

for (int i=0;i<array.GetLength(0);i++)
{
    for (int j=0;j<array.GetLength(1);j++)
    {
        int cell = array[i,j];
    }
}

Answer 3

The 2D array in C# does not lend itself well to a nested foreach, it is not the equivalent of a jagged array (an array of arrays). You could do something like this to use a foreach

foreach (int i in Enumerable.Range(0, array.GetLength(0)))
    foreach (int j in Enumerable.Range(0, array.GetLength(1)))
        Console.WriteLine(array[i, j]);

But you would still use i and j as index values for the array. Readability would be better preserved if you just went for the garden variety for loop instead.

Answer 4

Two ways:

1. Define the array as a jagged array, and use nested foreachs.
2. Define the array normally, and use foreach on the entire thing.

Example of #2:

int[,] arr = { { 1, 2 }, { 3, 4 } };
foreach(int a in arr)
    Console.Write(a);

Output will be 1234. ie. exactly the same as doing i from 0 to n, and j from 0 to n.

Answer 5

If you want to iterate over every item in the array as if it were a flattened array, you can just do:

foreach (int i in array) {
    Console.Write(i);
}

which would print

123456

If you want to be able to know the x and y indexes as well, you'll need to do:

for (int x = 0; x < array.GetLength(0); x += 1) {
    for (int y = 0; y < array.GetLength(1); y += 1) {
        Console.Write(array[x, y]);
    }
}

Alternatively you could use a jagged array instead (an array of arrays):

int[][] array = new int[2][] { new int[3] {1, 2, 3}, new int[3] {4, 5, 6} };
foreach (int[] subArray in array) {
    foreach (int i in subArray) {
        Console.Write(i);
    }
}

or

int[][] array = new int[2][] { new int[3] {1, 2, 3}, new int[3] {4, 5, 6} };
for (int j = 0; j < array.Length; j += 1) {
    for (int k = 0; k < array[j].Length; k += 1) {
        Console.Write(array[j][k]);
    }
}