what is meant by jagged array

[saikrishna cinux]

can any one tell me what is a jagged array
i nerver gone thru this word in java books


thanks in advance

[Deepak Bala]

A jagged or rugged array is when you have a non uniform array.

A 2 X 2 array will look like this

00
00

A rugged or jagged array might look like this.

00000
00
0000000
0000
00
0

This is achieved when defining the array. You mention that this is an array with 6 elements of depth but you add the width whenever you want with the new operator.

This would not fit under advanced though

[saikrishna cinux]

thanx,but can i create a jagged array in java ?? is it really helpful for a programmer

[Deepak Bala]

Yes you most certainly can

   
class test 
{
public static void main( String args[] )
{
int [][]arr = new int[5][];
arr[0] = new int[5];
arr[1]= new int[6];
System.out.println(arr[0].length + " " + arr[1].length );
}
 
}
 

There are some cases when this can be helpful. Say you have a list of things to add to a data structure like the following...

apple orange
one two four nine seven
bla bla bla

You can put it in a rugged array and then serialize the data in case you want to save it. I have not used rugged/jagged arrays at work ( yet )