Initializing already-created array

[RespeckKnuckles]

I have an array of something, and I know it can be initialized at once:

int a[5] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

but is there a way to easily set all its values at once after it's created? For example:

int a[5];
//some other code
a = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; //doesn't compile
a[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; //doesn't compile either 

[helios]

No, not the way you want to do it. You can set all the bytes in the array to a given value using memset(), but other than that, there's no way but for.

[Duthomhas]

Yes, as helios said, there is no way to do that.

Remember, something like

int a[5] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

is a form of static initialization, meaning that the array is initialized at compile-time with a constant expression.

If you want to keep the value list and the array declaration separate, you must introduce a new array, and use one of the <string.h> routines:

#include <string.h>

const int init_a[5] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

int main()
  {
  int a[5];

  memcpy( a, init_a, sizeof( int ) * 5 );

  ...
  }

Hope this helps.