Create an Array of Objects in C++

Summary: In this programming example, we will learn to create an array of objects in C++.

An array of objects is similar to the array of primitive data types such as int, double, char, etc.

The syntax to create an array of any user defined objects is:

<class> <array_name>[SIZE]; 

We define an array of class type and initialize it with the objects as values.

Here’s a C++ example where we create an array of objects in two different ways:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
 
class Language{
public:
    string name;
 
    //Default constructor
    Language(){}
 
    //Parameterized constructor
    Language(string name){
        this->name = name;
    }
};
 
 //To display the objects
void display(Language arr[],int length){
    for(int i=0; i<length; i++){
        cout << arr[i].name << endl;
    }
}
 
int main(){   
    //1. First way: Initializeobject at the time of declaration
    Language object_array[] = {Language("C"), Language("C++"), Language("Java")};
    
    display(object_array, 3);
 
    cout << endl << "-------------------------------" << endl;
 
    //2. Second way: First define, then initialize with objects
    Language object_array_2[3];
    object_array_2[0] = Language("C");
    object_array_2[1] = Language("C++");
    object_array_2[2] = Language("Java");
 
    display(object_array_2, 3);
 
    return 0;
}

Output:

An Array of Pointer Objects in C++

An object pointer is a pointer that stores the address location of an instance of the class.

Similar to normal objects, multiple object pointers can be stored in a single array.

Recommend: If you don’t know what the new operator is?

Here is a C++ example, which creates an array of pointers in two ways:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
 
class Language{
public:
    string name;
 
    Language(){}
 
    Language(string name){
        this->name = name;
    }
};
 
 //To display the pointer objects
void display(Language *arr[],int length){
    for(int i=0; i<length; i++){
        cout << arr[i]->name << endl;
    }
}
 
int main(){
    //1. First Way: Initialize array at the time of declaration
    Language *array[] = {new Language("C"), new Language("C++"), new Language("Java")};
    
    display(array, 3);
 
    cout << endl << "-------------------------------" << endl;
 
    //2. Second Way: First define array, then do the initialization
    Language *array_2[3];
    array_2[0] = new Language("C");
    array_2[1] = new Language("C++");
    array_2[2] = new Language("Java");
 
    display(array_2, 3);
 
    return 0;
}

Output:

In this tutorial, we learned how to create an array of user-defined objects in the C++ programming language.