Array declarations

Last updated on 2026-02-21 | Edit this page

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Overview

Questions

  • How do I create arrays of different sizes and numbers of dimensions?
  • Can I create the arrays at runtime if I don’t yet know how big they need to be?

Objectives

  • Understand how to create arrays of one, two and more dimensions.
  • Recognise and use array terminology.
  • Be able to create and use allocatable arrays.
  • Get help from the compiler if things go wrong.

A one-dimensional array

Arrays may be declared with addition of the dimension attribute, e.g.,

FORTRAN 

program example1

  implicit none

  real, dimension(3) :: a    ! declare a with elements a(1), a(2), a(3)

end program example1

The size of the array is the total number of elements (here 3). The default lower bound is 1 and the upper bound is 3.

In a slightly older style you may also see arrays declared by placing the size of the array directly after the name, e.g. and equivalently,

FORTRAN 

  real :: a(3)               ! declare a with elements a(1), a(2), a(3)
Callout

Fortran array indexing

Very importantly, Fortran arrays by default begin their indexing at 1. This is in direct contrast to other languages such as C, C++ and Python which begin at 0. Both styles have advantages and disadvantages; the Fortran standard has simply settled on a style that more closely resembles the indexing of mathematical matrices, while starting from 0 makes the offset in the memory more visible.

Lower and upper bounds

If necessary or useful, you can however choose yourself the bounding indices of your arrays:

FORTRAN 

  real, dimension(-2:1) :: b ! elements b(-2), b(-1), b(0), b(1)

Here we specify, explicitly, the lower and upper bounds. The size of this array is 4.

Array constructor

One may specify array values as a constructor

FORTRAN 

  integer, dimension(3), parameter :: s = (/ -1, 0, +1 /)   ! F2003 or
  integer, dimension(3), parameter :: t = [  -1, 0, +1 ]    ! F2008

A two-dimensional array

FORTRAN 

  real, dimension(2,3) :: a   ! elements a(1,1), a(1,2), a(1,3)
                              !          a(2,1), a(2,2), a(2,3)

This two-dimensional array (said to have rank 2) has two elements in the first dimension (or extent 2), and 3 elements in the second dimension (extent 3). It is said to have shape (2,3), which is the sequence of extents in each dimension. Its size is 6 elements.

There is an array element order which in which we expect the implementation to store contiguously in memory. In Fortran this has to be the left-most dimension counting fastest. For array a we expect the order in memory to be

FORTRAN 

a(1,1), a(2,1), a(1,2), a(2,2), a(1,3), a(2,3)

that is, the opposite the convention in C.

Callout

Looping through multi-dimensional arrays

In you write a loop which moves through an array, remember that you will typically move most quickly through the first index. That means that generally the innermost loop’s control variable should be used for the first index, the next outer loop should use the second control variable, and so on, e.g.,

FORTRAN 

do j = 1, 10
  do i = 1, 20
    a(i,j) = ...   ! Do work to calculate the (i,j)th element of an array.
  end do
end do

The principles of rank-2 arrays can be extended to higher ranks. The standard requires support for a minimum of rank-15 arrays, but individual compilers may allow for even more.

reshape

A constructor for an array of rank 2 or above might be used, e.g.,

FORTRAN 

  integer, dimension(2,3) :: m = reshape([1,2,3,4,5,6], shape = [2,3])

where we have used the intrinsic function reshape().

reshape() can be used wherever you might need to alter an array’s shape.

Exercise (2 minutes)

Discussion

Array sizes and shapes

Check the accompanying example1.f90 to see examples of intrinsic functions available to interrogate array size and shape at run time.

Allocatable arrays

If we wish to establish storage with shape determined at run time, the allocatable attribute can be used. The rank must be specified but the value of the extent in each dimension is deferred using the : symbol:

FORTRAN 

  real, dimension(:, :), allocatable :: a

  ! ... establish shape required, say (imax, jmax) ...

  allocate(a(imax, jmax))

  ! ... use and then release storage ...

  deallocate(a)

Again, this array will take on the default lower bound of 1 in each dimension.

Formally,

FORTRAN 

  allocate(allocate-list [, source = array-expr] [ , stat = scalar-int-var])

The optional source argument may be used to provide a template for the newly allocated object (values will be copied). We will return to this in more detail in the context of dynamic type.

A successful allocation with the optional stat argument will assign a value of zero to the argument.

Allocation status

An array declared with the allocatable attribute is initially in an unallocated state. When allocated, this status will change; this status can be interrogated via the intrinsic function allocated().

FORTRAN 

  integer, dimension(:), allocatable :: m
  ...
  if (allocated(m)) then
    ! ... we can do something ...
  end if

An attempt to deallocate a variable which is not allocated is an error.

Exercise (5 minutes)

Discussion

Computing pi with arrays

Return again to the program to compute the approximation of pi via the Gauss-Legendre expansion (last seen in the previous episode on do loops). You may use your own version or the new template provided in this directory (see exercise1.f90).

Introduce array storage for the quantites a, b and t. Use a fixed number of terms. Assign appropriate values in a first loop. In a second loop, compute the approximation of pi at each iteration.

What might you do if you wanted to store only the number of terms taken to reach a converged answer?

Help is available!

As arrays are self-describing in Fortran, it is relatively easy for the compiler to analyse whether array accesses are valid, or within bounds. This can help debugging. Most compilers will have an option that instructs the compiler to inject additional code which checks bounds at run time. For the Cray Fortran compiler, this is -hbounds; for the GNU compiler, this is -fcheck=bounds.

E.g.,

BASH 

$ ftn -hbounds exercise1.f90

Some compilers may also be able to check certain bounds at compile time, and issue a compile-time message. However, in general, errors may not appear until run time. If your program crashes, or produces unexpected results, this compiler option can help to track down problems with invalid array accesses.

Key Points
  • Unlike C, which often uses pointers to handle array data, Fortran has arrays which are an intrinsic feature of the language.
  • The number of dimensions in an array is its rank.
  • The number of elements in one of an array’s dimensions is its extent.
  • The ordered sequence of extents in an array is its shape.
  • The total number of elements in an array, equal to the product of its shape, is its size.
  • In Fortran array indices begin at 1 by default, but this can be changed if required.
  • New arrays can be created by using the intrinsic reshape() function with an existing one.
  • An array with an unknown size can be allocated at runtime.
  • Compilers are typically able to help you debug issues with arrays if you ask them to.