Assign multiple values to array in C

Question

Is there any way to do this in a condensed form?

GLfloat coordinates[8];
...
coordinates[0] = 1.0f;
coordinates[1] = 0.0f;
coordinates[2] = 1.0f;
coordinates[3] = 1.0f;
coordinates[4] = 0.0f;
coordinates[5] = 1.0f;
coordinates[6] = 0.0f;
coordinates[7] = 0.0f;
return coordinates;

Something like coordinates = {1.0f, ...};?

Answer 1

If you really to assign values (as opposed to initialize), you can do it like this:

 GLfloat coordinates[8]; 
 static const GLfloat coordinates_defaults[8] = {1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f ....};
 ... 
 memcpy(coordinates, coordinates_defaults, sizeof(coordinates_defaults));

 return coordinates; 

Answer 2

The old-school way:

GLfloat coordinates[8];
...

GLfloat *p = coordinates;
*p++ = 1.0f; *p++ = 0.0f; *p++ = 1.0f; *p++ = 1.0f;
*p++ = 0.0f; *p++ = 1.0f; *p++ = 0.0f; *p++ = 0.0f;

return coordinates;

Answer 3

typedef struct{
  char array[4];
}my_array;

my_array array = { .array = {1,1,1,1} }; // initialisation

void assign(my_array a)
{
  array.array[0] = a.array[0];
  array.array[1] = a.array[1];
  array.array[2] = a.array[2];
  array.array[3] = a.array[3]; 
}

char num = 5;
char ber = 6;

int main(void)
{
  printf("%d\n", array.array[0]);
// ...

  // this works even after initialisation
  assign((my_array){ .array = {num,ber,num,ber} });

  printf("%d\n", array.array[0]);
// ....
  return 0;
}

Answer 4

If you are doing these same assignments a lot in your program and want a shortcut, the most straightforward solution might be to just add a function

static inline void set_coordinates(
        GLfloat coordinates[static 8],
        GLfloat c0, GLfloat c1, GLfloat c2, GLfloat c3,
        GLfloat c4, GLfloat c5, GLfloat c6, GLfloat c7)
{
    coordinates[0] = c0;
    coordinates[1] = c1;
    coordinates[2] = c2;
    coordinates[3] = c3;
    coordinates[4] = c4;
    coordinates[5] = c5;
    coordinates[6] = c6;
    coordinates[7] = c7;
}

and then simply call

GLfloat coordinates[8];
// ...
set_coordinates(coordinates, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

Answer 5

Exactly, you nearly got it:

GLfloat coordinates[8] = {1.0f, ..., 0.0f};

Answer 6

You can use:

GLfloat coordinates[8] = {1.0f, ..., 0.0f};

but this is a compile-time initialisation - you can't use that method in the current standard to re-initialise (although I think there are ways to do it in the upcoming standard, which may not immediately help you).

The other two ways that spring to mind are to blat the contents if they're fixed:

GLfloat base_coordinates[8] = {1.0f, ..., 0.0f};
GLfloat coordinates[8];
:
memcpy (coordinates, base_coordinates, sizeof (coordinates));

or provide a function that looks like your initialisation code anyway:

void setCoords (float *p0, float p1, ..., float p8) {
    p0[0] = p1; p0[1] = p2; p0[2] = p3; p0[3] = p4;
    p0[4] = p5; p0[5] = p6; p0[6] = p7; p0[7] = p8;
}
:
setCoords (coordinates, 1.0f, ..., 0.0f);

keeping in mind those ellipses (...) are placeholders, not things to literally insert in the code.