How to add strings to a 2d array of char elements?

Question

I have the below program written in C++:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()

{
    int age[5];
    char name[5][10];

    age[0]=10;
    age[1]=20;
    age[2]=30;
    age[3]=25;
    age[4]=40;

    name[0]="abc";
    name[1]="abc";
    name[2]="abc";
    name[3]="abc";
    name[4]="abc";

    cout<<name[0]<<" is "<<age[0]<<"years old";
    cout<<"\n";
    cout<<name[1]<<" is "<<age[1]<<"years old";
    cout<<"\n";
    cout<<name[2]<<" is "<<age[2]<<"years old";
    cout<<"\n";
    cout<<name[3]<<" is "<<age[3]<<"years old";
    cout<<"\n";
    cout<<name[4]<<" is "<<age[4]<<"years old";
    cout<<"\n\n";

    system("PAUSE");

}

When I compile and run it, I get these errors:

error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'const char [3]' to 'char [10]' There is no context in which this conversion is possible

error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'const char [2]' to 'char [10]' There is no context in which this conversion is possible

error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'const char [2]' to 'char [10]' There is no context in which this conversion is possible

error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'const char [2]' to 'char [10]' There is no context in which this conversion is possible

error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'const char [2]' to 'char [10]' There is no context in which this conversion is possible

I am running MSVC 2008 under Windows 7. I have tried many possible solutions but I failed in fixing this. Any help would be appreciated,

trojanfoe · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-27 20:22:27Z

3

You are treating the name array as if it was defined thus:

char *name[5];

So either define it that way, or use the following code to populate it:

strcpy(name[0], "abc");
strcpy(name[1], "abc");
strcpy(name[2], "abc");
strcpy(name[3], "abc");
strcpy(name[4], "abc");

I prefer the former choice. The point being you are trying to assign a char * to a char [] which is what strcpy is for. Given you are manipulating initialized C strings in this case anyway, you might as well deal with char * throughout the code.

edited Mar 27, 2011 at 20:22

answered Mar 27, 2011 at 19:19

trojanfoe

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Puppy · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-27 19:56:55Z

2

You should use std::string for this purpose. The use of char* and char[] to represent strings is deprecated in C++ for many good reasons.

answered Mar 27, 2011 at 19:56

Puppy

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Mahesh · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-27 19:35:07Z

0

Given the program snippet, name can be initialized at the declaration itself.

char name[5][10] = { "abc", "abc", "abc", "abc", "abc" } ;
       // ^ index 5 is not necessary. char name[][10] = { .. } would also suffice.

Specified the length of each row is 10 but only using first 3 indexes of it. Every 3rd index ( i.e., 4th element in the array ) is automatically added with a '\0'.

Initialization can be done in case of age array too.

answered Mar 27, 2011 at 19:35

Mahesh

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MaksBrrr · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-27 19:46:46Z

0

You can use also std::string name[10] instead of 2d char's array. In this case only you can assign new values to the strings through operator '='. Otherwise you should to use array of char* and use strcpy() function for assignment.

answered Mar 27, 2011 at 19:46

MaksBrrr

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