Pass Array to Functions in C

In this article, we will show you, How to write a C Program to pass an array to functions. Or How to pass an array to functions in C programming with a practical example.

TIP: Suggest you refer Functions, Call By Value and Call by Reference article to understand the function declaration and the arguments.

Pass Array to Functions in C Example 1

Like any other variable, you can pass the individual array elements to the function argument.

In this program, we created a function that accepts an integer variable and prints that variable as the output. Within the main program, we used for loop to iterate the array and pass each array element to the function that we created earlier.

/* Pass Array to Functions in C  */

#include<stdio.h>
 
void PrintArray(int a)
{
    printf("Array Element = %d \n", a);
}

int main()
{
    int array[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6};
    
    for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
    {
        PrintArray(array[i]);
    }
    return 0;
}

OUTPUT

Pass Array to Functions in C Example 2

Instead of passing individual array element, you can directly pass an array to the function. Please refer C Program to find Sum of Array Elements article to understand the logic behind this program.

/* C Program to Pass Array to Functions  */

#include<stdio.h>

int SumofNumbers(int a[], int Size)
{
    int Addition = 0;
    int i;
    for(i = 0; i < Size; i++)
    {
        Addition = Addition + a[i];
    }
    return Addition;
}
int main()
{
    int i, Size, a[10];
    int Addition;
    
    printf("Please Enter the Size of an Array: ");
    scanf("%d", &Size);
    
    printf("\nPlease Enter Array Elements\n");
    for(i = 0; i < Size; i++)
    {
        scanf("%d", &a[i]);
    }
    Addition = SumofNumbers(a, Size);
    printf("Sum of All Elements in an Array = %d \n", Addition);
    return 0;
}

OUTPUT

Pass Array to Functions in C Example 3

Instead of passing an array element, you can pass the reference of it. I mean, array call by reference directly. Please refer C Program to print Array Elements article to understand the logic behind this program.

/* C Program to Pass Array to Functions */

#include<stdio.h>
 
void PrintArray(int *a, int Size)
{
    int i;
    
    printf("\n **** Elemenst in this Array are : ****\n");
    for (i = 0; i < Size; i++)
    {
        printf(" Element at Array[%d] = %d \n", i, a[i]);
    }
}
int main()
{
    int Array[50], i, Number;
    
    printf("\nPlease Enter Number of elements in an array  :  ");
    scanf("%d", &Number);
    
    printf("Please Enter %d elements of an Array :  ", Number);
    for (i = 0; i < Number; i++)
    {
        scanf("%d", &Array[i]);
    }
    
    PrintArray(Array, Number);
    
    return 0;
}

OUTPUT

C Program to Pass Array to Functions Example 4

This program shows you, how to pass multi-Dimensional arrays to functions. I suggest you to refer C Program to find the sum of each row in a Matrix article to understand this program.

/* Pass Array to Functions in C  */

#include<stdio.h>
 
void AddRows(int arr[10][10], int i, int j)
{
    int rows, columns;
    for(rows = 0; rows < i; rows++)
    {
        int Sum = 0;
        for(columns = 0; columns < j; columns++)
        {
            Sum = Sum + arr[rows][columns];
        }
        printf("The Sum of Elements of a Rows in a Matrix =  %d \n", Sum );
    }
}
int main()
{
    int i, j, rows, columns, a[10][10];
    
    printf("Please Enter Number of rows and columns  :  ");
    scanf("%d %d", &i, &j);
    
    printf("Please Enter the Matrix Elements \n");
    for(rows = 0; rows < i; rows++)
    {
        for(columns = 0; columns < j; columns++)
        {
            scanf("%d", &a[rows][columns]);
        }
    }
    
    AddRows(a, i, j);
    
    return 0;
}

OUTPUT