Populate a multidimensional array with a loop [duplicate] - swift

Question

This question already has answers here:
Error: "array index out of range" in multidimensional array
(2 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I'm trying to populate a multidimensional array with this code:
var array = [[Int]]()
for i in 0...3 {
for j in 0...3{
array[i][j] = i + j <<- Error
}
}
But I get an error:
fatal error: Index out of range
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

[[Int]] is not a multidimensional array. It is an array of arrays. That's a very different thing. For example, in an array of arrays, each row may have a different number of columns. It's generally a bad idea to use a nested array as a multidimensional array, particularly a mutable one. It's often incredibly inefficient to modify because it causes a lot of copying every time you change it.
Swift doesn't have a multidimensional array type. If you really need one, you generally have to build it yourself, or redesign to avoid it. If it's small enough, and doesn't change much, it's not that big a deal, but don't let them get large.
That said, the problem is that element [0][0] doesn't exist because you didn't create it. You'd need to initialize the array this way before using it:
var array = Array(repeating: Array(repeating: 0, count: 4), count: 4)
This creates an array of 4 arrays of 4 zeros.
If you want specifically the layout you describe, possibly a better approach is mapping, which is likely going to be more efficient (since it doesn't keep modifying the nested array):
let array = (0...3).map { i in
(0...3).map { j in
return i + j
}
}

Answer 2

Calling array[i][j] is for elements that are already there. You cannot use it to initialize the array, because currently it is just an empty array. You should be using .append instead. Keep in mind that this actually isn't a multi-dimensional array like Rob Napier states, but it accomplishes the same goal in this scenario. Try something like this:
var array = [[Int]]()
for i in 0...3 {
var subArray = [Int]()
for j in 0...3 {
subArray.append(i + j)
}
array.append(subArray)
}
This prints:
[[0, 1, 2, 3], [1, 2, 3, 4], [2, 3, 4, 5], [3, 4, 5, 6]]
Again, may not be the best approach, but this is just how you could do it in Swift.