An **array** is a collection of fixed number values of a single type. Hence, an *integer* array can only hold elements whose data type is also an integer.

A **two-dimensional array** in C can be thought of as a matrix with rows and columns. The general syntax used  to declare a two-dimensional array is:

A two-dimensional array is an array of several one-dimensional arrays. Following is an array with five rows, each row has three columns:
```C
int my_array[5][3];
```

The code above declares a one-dimensional array that has five elements. Each of these five elements is themselves, an array of three integers. The following diagram shows a simple way to visualize this:

# Initializing two-dimensional a​rrays
A two-dimensional array can be initialized during its declaration. 

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main()
{
  int my_array[5][3] = {
    {1, 2, 3},      //row 1
    {4, 5, 6},      //row 2
    {7, 8, 9},      //row 3
    {10, 11, 12},   //row 4
    {13, 14, 15}    //row 5
  };
}

The inside curly braces are optional, two-dimensional arrays can be declared with *or* without them.

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main()
{
  int my_array[5][3] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 
                        9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15};
}

# Accessing elements in two-dimensional arrays

Just like one-dimensional arrays, two-dimensional arrays also require indices to access the required elements. A row and a column index are needed to access a particular element; for nested loops, two indices (one to traverse the rows and the other to traverse the columns in each row) are required to print a two-dimensional array. 

#include <stdio.h>
 
int main()
{
  // array declaration and initialization
  int my_array[5][3] = {
    {1, 2, 3},      //row 1
    {4, 5, 6},      //row 2
    {7, 8, 9},      //row 3
    {10, 11, 12},   //row 4
    {13, 14, 15}    //row 5
  };

  // accessing and printing the elements
  for ( int i = 0; i < 5; i++ ) {   
      // variable i traverses the rows
      for ( int j = 0; j < 3; j++ ) {
         // variable j traverses the columns
         printf("my_array [%d][%d] = %d\n", i,j, my_array[i][j] );
      }
   }
   return 0;
}

Two-dimensional arrays in C

An array is a collection of fixed number values of a single type. Hence, an integer array can only hold elements whose data type is also an integer. A two-dimensional array in C can be thought of as a matrix with rows and columns. The general syntax used  to declare a two-dimensional array is: 

Two-dimensional arrays in C

Initializing two-dimensional a​rrays

Accessing elements in two-dimensional arrays

Initializing two-dimensional arrays