Working with Multidimensional Arrays in C#.NET

In addition to the single-dimension arrays you have seen thus far, C# also supports two varieties of multidimensional arrays. The first of these is termed a rectangular array, which is simply an array of multiple dimensions, where each row is of the same length. To declare and fill a multidimensional rectangular array, proceed as follows: 

static void Main(string[] args) 

{ 

... 

// A rectangular MD array. 

int[,] myMatrix; 

myMatrix = new int[6,6]; 

// Populate (6 * 6) array. 

for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++) 

for(int j = 0; j < 6; j++) 

myMatrix[i, j] = i * j; 

// Print (6 * 6) array. 

for(int i = 0; i < 6; i++) 

{ 

for(int j = 0; j < 6; j++) 

Console.Write(myMatrix[i, j] + "\t"); 

Console.WriteLine(); 

} 

... 

} 

Figure shows the output (note the rectangular nature of the array). 

The second type of multidimensional array is termed a jagged array. As the name implies, jagged arrays contain some number of inner arrays, each of which may have a unique upper limit, for example: 

static void Main(string[] args) 

{ 

... 

// A jagged MD array (i.e., an array of arrays). 

// Here we have an array of 5 different arrays. 

int[][] myJagArray = new int[5][]; 

// Create the jagged array. 

for (int i = 0; i < myJagArray.Length; i++) 

myJagArray[i] = new int[i + 7]; 

// Print each row (remember, each element is defaulted to zero!) 

for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++) 

{ 

Console.Write("Length of row {0} is {1} :\t", i, myJagArray[i].Length); 

for(int j = 0; j < myJagArray[i].Length; j++) 

Console.Write(myJagArray[i][j] + " "); 

Console.WriteLine(); 

} 

} 

Figure shows the output (note the jaggedness of the array). 

Now that you understand how to build and populate C# arrays, let’s turn our attention to the ultimate base class of any array: System.Array.