Skip to main content

Sorting Two-Dimensional Arrays

Do you know how a 2D array is stored in the memory while the memory is only one-dimensional?

The answer is simple, all the arrays are stored linearly in the memory, be it 2D array or 3D, only the representation is such that to make it easy to reference.

Therefore, if a two-dimensional array has the following elements:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

in the memory, it will be like this:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

just because memory is linear, and cannot have dimensions. It is the language that represents 2 D arrays as such while in the memory it is always linear.

This property of 2D arrays will be used to sort them, because sorting linear data is much easier.

We don’t need much discussion on this, so here is the example program, please read the comments where all things are elaborated

  // --Sorting Program--
  // -------------------
  // Example Program to sort
  // 2D array using linear
  // representation of the array
  #include<iostream.h>

  #define MAX 3

  void main(void)
  {
   int arr[MAX][MAX];
   int i,j,temp;
   int *arr_ptr;

   for(i=0;i<MAX;i++)
     for(j=0;j<MAX;j++)
       cin>>arr[i][j];

   // we have taken a pointer
   // to the 2D array to
   // represent it linearly

   // C-style type cast
   // is necessary here
   arr_ptr=(int*)arr;

   // sorting is done here.
   // selection sort method of
   // sorting is employed here
   // you can use whichever
   // method you like

   // here MAX*MAX is used 
   // because the no. of elements
   // in the linear representation
   // of the 2D array has that
   // many elements
   for(i=0;i<((MAX*MAX)-1);i++)
     for(j=i+1;j<(MAX*MAX);j++)
       if(*(arr_ptr+i)>*(arr_ptr+j))
       {
        temp=*(arr_ptr+i);
        *(arr_ptr+i)=*(arr_ptr+j);
        *(arr_ptr+j)=temp;
       }
   // sorting is done till here

   cout<<endl;

   for(i=0;i<MAX;i++)
   {
    for(j=0;j<MAX;j++)
    cout<<" "<<arr[i][j];
    cout<<endl;
   }
  }

Good-Bye!

Related Articles:


Popular posts from this blog

Fix For Toshiba Satellite "RTC Battery is Low" Error (with Pictures)

RTC Battery is Low Error on a Toshiba Satellite laptop "RTC Battery is Low..." An error message flashing while you try to boot your laptop is enough to panic many people. But worry not! "RTC Battery" stands for Real-Time Clock battery which almost all laptops and PCs have on their motherboard to power the clock and sometimes to also keep the CMOS settings from getting erased while the system is switched off.  It is not uncommon for these batteries to last for years before requiring a replacement as the clock consumes very less power. And contrary to what some people tell you - they are not rechargeable or getting charged while your computer or laptop is running. In this article, we'll learn everything about RTC batteries and how to fix the error on your Toshiba Satellite laptop. What is an RTC Battery? RTC or CMOS batteries are small coin-shaped lithium batteries with a 3-volts output. Most laptops use

The Best Way(s) to Comment out PHP/HTML Code

PHP supports various styles of comments. Please check the following example: <?php // Single line comment code (); # Single line Comment code2 (); /* Multi Line comment code(); The code inside doesn't run */ // /* This doesn NOT start a multi-line comment block /* Multi line comment block The following line still ends the multi-line comment block //*/ The " # " comment style, though, is rarely used. Do note, in the example, that anything (even a multi-block comment /* ) after a " // " or " # " is a comment, and /* */ around any single-line comment overrides it. This information will come in handy when we learn about some neat tricks next. Comment out PHP Code Blocks Check the following code <?php //* Toggle line if ( 1 ) {      // } else {      // } //*/ //* Toggle line if ( 2 ) {      // } else {      // } //*/ Now see how easy it is to toggle a part of PHP code by just removing or adding a single " / " from th

Introduction to Operator Overloading in C++

a1 = a2 + a3; The above operation is valid, as you know if a1, a2 and a3 are instances of in-built Data Types . But what if those are, say objects of a Class ; is the operation valid? Yes, it is, if you overload the ‘+’ Operator in the class, to which a1, a2 and a3 belong. Operator overloading is used to give special meaning to the commonly used operators (such as +, -, * etc.) with respect to a class. By overloading operators, we can control or define how an operator should operate on data with respect to a class. Operators are overloaded in C++ by creating operator functions either as a member or a s a Friend Function of a class. Since creating member operator functions are easier, we’ll be using that method in this article. As I said operator functions are declared using the following general form: ret-type operator#(arg-list); and then defining it as a normal member function. Here, ret-type is commonly the name of the class itself as the ope