c++ - Passing array with unknown size to function

Question

Let's say I have a function called MyFunction(int myArray[][]) that does some array manipulations.

If I write the parameter list like that, the compiler will complain that it needs to know the size of the array at compile time. Is there a way to rewrite the parameter list so that I can pass an array with any size to the function?

My array's size is defined by two static const ints in a class, but the compiler won't accept something like MyFunction(int myArray[Board::ROWS][Board::COLS]).

What if I could convert the array to a vector and then pass the vector to MyFunction? Is there a one-line conversion that I can use or do I have to do the conversion manually?

Answer 1

In C++ language, multidimensional array declarations must always include all sizes except possibly the first one. So, what you are trying to do is not possible. You cannot declare a parameter of built-in multidimensional array type without explicitly specifying the sizes.

If you need to pass a run-time sized multidimensional array to a function, you can forget about using built-in multidimensional array type. One possible workaround here is to use a "simulated" multidimensional array (1D array of pointers to other 1D arrays; or a plain 1D array that simulates multidimensional array through index recalculation).