error in c language when trying to declare array of strings

Question

I am trying to declare this array of strings(or a 2d character array,i reckon) in c language but the compiler ide is giving me error: "[Error] array type has incomplete element type"

char division[][]={"Northeast Division","Northwest Division","Southeast Division","Southwest Division"};

what am I doing wrong?

• x-6-2-5: Possible duplicate of 2D array initialisation in C
• alk: Do you want to be able to modify those "string"s during run-time?

Answer 1

You have to specify the maximum length of a string. This should solve your problem

char division[][25]={"Northeast Division","Northwest Division","Southeast Division","Southwest Division"};

• piku_baba: in 1d array you dont need to do that if you given whats in the array...so why do you need to do that in 2d?
• arjunkhera: because if we do not specify the row length, then the compiler will have no way of knowing how to deference other row elements. Check this and this for an in depth explanation.

Answer 2

You can declare like this :

char *division[]={"Northeast Division","Northwest Division","Southeast Division","Southwest Division"};