malloc in C, but use multi-dimensional array syntax

Question

Is there any way to malloc a large array, but refer to it with 2D syntax? I want something like:

int *memory = (int *)malloc(sizeof(int)*400*200);
int MAGICV         


        

Answer 1

Working from Tim's and caf's answers, I'll leave this here for posterity:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

void Test0() {
    int                             c, i, j, n, r;
    int                             (*m)[ 3 ];

    r = 2;
    c = 3;

    m = malloc( r * c * sizeof(int) );

    for ( i = n = 0; i < r; ++i ) {
        for ( j = 0; j < c; ++j ) {
            m[ i ][ j ] = n++;
            printf( "m[ %d ][ %d ] == %d\n", i, j, m[ i ][ j ] );
        }
    }

    free( m );
}

void Test1( int r, int c ) {
    int                             i, j, n;

    int                             (*m)[ c ];

    m = malloc( r * c * sizeof(int) );

    for ( i = n = 0; i < r; ++i ) {
        for ( j = 0; j < c; ++j ) {
            m[ i ][ j ] = n++;
            printf( "m[ %d ][ %d ] == %d\n", i, j, m[ i ][ j ] );
        }
    }

    free( m );
}

void Test2( int r, int c ) {
    int                             i, j, n;

    typedef struct _M {
        int                         rows;
        int                         cols;

        int                         (*matrix)[ 0 ];
    } M;

    M *                             m;

    m = malloc( sizeof(M) + r * c * sizeof(int) );

    m->rows = r;
    m->cols = c;

    int                             (*mp)[ m->cols ] = (int (*)[ m->cols ]) &m->matrix;

    for ( i = n = 0; i < r; ++i ) {
        for ( j = 0; j < c; ++j ) {
            mp[ i ][ j ] = n++;
            printf( "m->matrix[ %d ][ %d ] == %d\n", i, j, mp[ i ][ j ] );
        }
    }

    free( m );
}

int main( int argc, const char * argv[] ) {
    int                             cols, rows;

    rows = 2;
    cols = 3;

    Test0();
    Test1( rows, cols );
    Test2( rows, cols );

    return 0;
}

Answer 2

The compiler and runtime have no way of knowing your intended dimension capacities with only a multiplication in the malloc call.

You need to use a double pointer in order to achieve the capability of two indices. Something like this should do it:

#define ROWS 400
#define COLS 200

int **memory = malloc(ROWS * sizeof(*memory));

int i;
for (i = 0; i < ROWS; ++i)
{
    memory[i] = malloc(COLS * sizeof(*memory[i]);
}

memory[20][10] = 3;

Make sure you check all your malloc return values for NULL returns, indicating memory allocation failure.