Designated Initializers for Sparse Arrays

Snippet

Designated Initializers for Sparse Arrays

Designated initializers allow you to initialize specific array indices or struct members by name/index. For arrays, this is particularly useful for mapping non-sequential constants (like error codes) to strings, leaving uninitialized elements as zero/NULL.

snippet.c

#include <stdio.h>
 
const char* get_error(int code) {
    static const char* const errors[] = {
        [0] = "Success",
        [404] = "Not Found",
        [500] = "Internal Server Error"
    };
    
    return (code >= 0 && code < 501) ? errors[code] : "Unknown";
}

Breakdown

[404] = "Not Found"

Explicitly sets the value at index 404, regardless of prior elements.

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Designated Initializers for Sparse Arrays

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