For the next code snippet: char words[10][9] = { Hello, Good-bye }; The expression

Question

Asked: June 17, 20262026-06-17T11:37:45+00:00 2026-06-17T11:37:45+00:00

For the next code snippet:

char words[10][9] = {
"Hello",
"Good-bye"
};

The expression words[2][4] would give me the character 'o', but I don’t understand why.

Can anybody explain this behavior?

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Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-06-17T11:37:45+00:00

After a “partial” initialization, all the “uninitialized” elements are effectively initialized with 0.

So your element should have a value of 0 (or '\0').

If it hasn’t there is something else going on that you do not show us.

In C there is no partial initialization: either all elements are initialized (possibly to 0) or no elements are initialized.

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