What do square brackets mean in array initialization in C?

Question

static uint8_t togglecode[256] = {
    [0x3A] CAPSLOCK,
    [0x45] NUMLOCK,
    [0x46] SCROLLLOCK
};

What\'s the meaning of [0x3A] her

Answer 1

It means initialise the n-th element of the array. The example you've given will mean that:

togglecode[0x3A] == CAPSLOCK
togglecode[0x45] == NUMLOCK
togglecode[0x46] == SCROLLLOCK

These are called "designated initializers", and are actually part of the C99 standard. However, the syntax without the = is not. From that page:

An alternative syntax for this which has been obsolete since GCC 2.5 but GCC still accepts is to write [index] before the element value, with no =.