Fortran - Dynamic Arrays

A dynamic array is an array, the size of which is not known at compile time, but will be known at execution time.

Dynamic arrays are declared with the attribute allocatable.

For example,

real, dimension (:,:), allocatable :: darray    

The rank of the array, i.e., the dimensions has to be mentioned however, to allocate memory to such an array, you use the allocate function.

allocate ( darray(s1,s2) )      

After the array is used, in the program, the memory created should be freed using the deallocate function

deallocate (darray)  

Example

The following example demonstrates the concepts discussed above.

program dynamic_array 
implicit none 

   !rank is 2, but size not known   
   real, dimension (:,:), allocatable :: darray    
   integer :: s1, s2     
   integer :: i, j     
   
   print*, "Enter the size of the array:"     
   read*, s1, s2      
   
   ! allocate memory      
   allocate ( darray(s1,s2) )      
   
   do i = 1, s1           
      do j = 1, s2                
         darray(i,j) = i*j               
         print*, "darray(",i,",",j,") = ", darray(i,j)           
      end do      
   end do      
   
   deallocate (darray)  
end program dynamic_array

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Enter the size of the array: 3,4
darray( 1 , 1 ) = 1.00000000    
darray( 1 , 2 ) = 2.00000000    
darray( 1 , 3 ) = 3.00000000    
darray( 1 , 4 ) = 4.00000000    
darray( 2 , 1 ) = 2.00000000    
darray( 2 , 2 ) = 4.00000000    
darray( 2 , 3 ) = 6.00000000    
darray( 2 , 4 ) = 8.00000000    
darray( 3 , 1 ) = 3.00000000    
darray( 3 , 2 ) = 6.00000000    
darray( 3 , 3 ) = 9.00000000    
darray( 3 , 4 ) = 12.0000000   

Use of Data Statement

The data statement can be used for initialising more than one array, or for array section initialisation.

The syntax of data statement is −

data variable / list / ...

Example

The following example demonstrates the concept −

program dataStatement
implicit none

   integer :: a(5), b(3,3), c(10),i, j
   data a /7,8,9,10,11/ 
   
   data b(1,:) /1,1,1/ 
   data b(2,:)/2,2,2/ 
   data b(3,:)/3,3,3/ 
   data (c(i),i = 1,10,2) /4,5,6,7,8/ 
   data (c(i),i = 2,10,2)/5*2/
   
   Print *, 'The A array:'
   do j = 1, 5                
      print*, a(j)           
   end do 
   
   Print *, 'The B array:'
   do i = lbound(b,1), ubound(b,1)
      write(*,*) (b(i,j), j = lbound(b,2), ubound(b,2))
   end do

   Print *, 'The C array:' 
   do j = 1, 10                
      print*, c(j)           
   end do      
   
end program dataStatement

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

 The A array:
           7
           8
           9
          10
          11
 The B array:
           1           1           1
           2           2           2
           3           3           3
 The C array:
           4
           2
           5
           2
           6
           2
           7
           2
           8
           2

Use of Where Statement

The where statement allows you to use some elements of an array in an expression, depending on the outcome of some logical condition. It allows the execution of the expression, on an element, if the given condition is true.

Example

The following example demonstrates the concept −

program whereStatement
implicit none

   integer :: a(3,5), i , j
   
   do i = 1,3
      do j = 1, 5                
         a(i,j) = j-i          
      end do 
   end do
   
   Print *, 'The A array:'
   
   do i = lbound(a,1), ubound(a,1)
      write(*,*) (a(i,j), j = lbound(a,2), ubound(a,2))
   end do
   
   where( a<0 ) 
      a = 1 
   elsewhere
      a = 5
   end where
  
   Print *, 'The A array:'
   do i = lbound(a,1), ubound(a,1)
      write(*,*) (a(i,j), j = lbound(a,2), ubound(a,2))
   end do   
   
end program whereStatement

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

 The A array:
           0           1           2           3           4
          -1           0           1           2           3
          -2          -1           0           1           2
 The A array:
           5           5           5           5           5
           1           5           5           5           5
           1           1           5           5           5