How can you break apart an array to make two arrays?

Answer 1

If the two arrays are a simple division of the larger array (such as splitting it in half), you can use pointers to mark the start address of each sub-array:

int a[10];

int* p1 = &a[0]; // point to first half

int* p2 = &a[5]; // point to second half

You should also use unsigned integer variables to keep track of the size of each sub-array:

unsigned p1size = 5, p2size=5;

It's usually best to use a structure to keep array pointers and size variables together in one place:

typedef struct intarray {

int* ptr;

unsigned size;

}

If you need to split the array in a non-contiguous manner you will need to create new arrays that are at least as large as the original array, and then copy the appropriate elements to the appropriate sub-array. Once copied, you can (optionally) shrink the sub-arrays to eliminate any unused elements.