How correctly store elements in char array in C?

Question

I am sure it's pretty obvious, but I haven't been able to figure this out for a couple hours. I need to take input (words, strings) from the user and store it in the array, and then I need to access these elements by their index or something similar.
I've tried both frets and scanf but couldn't make it work.
Here's what I have so far:

typedef struct 
{
   char components[MAX_STRING];
   int numComp;
   char weightingSheme[MAX_STRING][50];
   int numOfSchemes;
}  CourseComponents; 

char input [MAX_STRING]
CourseComponents newCourses;
int *Comp = &newCourses.numComp;
*Comp = 0;
int *numOfSchemes = &newCourses.numOfSchemes;
*numOfSchemes = 0;
for (i=0;i<newCourses.numComp;i++) 
{
    printf("Enter next component name: ");
    scanf("%s", input);
    strcpy(&newCourses.components[i], input);  
}

What is the type of newCourses.components[i], is it an array char or an array of pointers? — SSC
– SSC, Commented Oct 23, 2014 at 3:28
char components[MAX_STRING][50]; will not solve your problem? — someuser
– someuser, Commented Oct 23, 2014 at 3:37

seand · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-23 03:37:06Z

2

char components[MAX_STRING];

This only holds a "single" string. You probably want to declare it like this;

char components[MAX_ELEMS][MAX_STRING];

That's an array of strings, more precisely an array of array of chars (each string a fixed length which can be wasteful). This will get you up and running but it's not what I would call "production quality" You likely don't want hardcoded lengths like this.

answered Oct 23, 2014 at 3:37

seand

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2 Comments

user2847624 Over a year ago

yea, i don't really understand callock by now :) just go with it

user2847624 Over a year ago

how i then copy elements to 2-dimensional array?

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