An array is the collection of homogeneous elements which stored in a contiguous memory location by using the same variable name. Elements of an array are accessed by their index value. Array index start with 0 and go up-to-the length of an array elements(n) less than -1.i.e.(n-1).

An array can be Single dimensional or Multidimensional.

Here, we will discuss the Multidimensional array.

1. A multidimensional array is an array which contains more than one arrays to store data on it.

2. The length of each row in multidimensional is same, therefore, it is also known as a rectangular array. The multidimensional array contains a 2D array or 3D array or more.

3. Multidimensional arrays look like a table in which each element has a row and a column value.

For example:

Syntax for 2-dimensional array:

int [,] arrayname=new int[9,32];

Syntax for 3-dimensional array:

int [, ,] arrayname=new int[29,32,89];

Array Initialization:

For 2-dimensional array initialization:

We can initialize the 2-dimensional array in three way:

1. int[,] a = new int[ , ] { { 11, 20 }, { 3, 42 }, { 35, 60 }, { 43, 22 } };

2. int[,] a = new int[3, 2] { { 10, 32 }, { 31, 44 }, { 25, 64 } };

3. int[,] a= new int [3,2];

a[0,0]=1;

a[0,1]=2;

a[1,0]=4;

a[1,1]=5;

a[2,0]=7;

a[2,1]=8;

For 3-dimensional array initialization:

We can initialize the 3-dimensional array in three way:

int[, ,] b = new int[ , , ] { { { 19, 22, 32 }, { 40, 45, 26 } },

{ { 17, 38, 49 }, { 10, 76, 25 } } };

int[, ,] b = new int[2, 2, 3] { { { 19, 22, 32 }, { 40, 45, 26 } },

{ { 17, 38, 49 }, { 10, 76, 25 } } };

int[, ,] b = new int[3, 5, 4];

b[0, 0, 0] = 10;

b[0, 1, 0] = 12;

b[0, 2, 0] = 32;

b[0, 3, 0] = 24;

b[0, 4, 0] = 75;

b[1, 1, 1] = 20;

b[2, 2, 2] = 35;

b[2, 2, 3] = 14;

C# Code for accessing Two-Dimensional Array Elements

using System;
namespace Sample ArrayProgram
{
   class SampleArray
   {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
          int[,] a = new int[2, 3] {{1,2,3}, {4,5,6}};
         int i, j;
         for (i = 0; i < 2; i++)
         {
            for (j = 0; j < 3; j++)
            {
               Console.WriteLine( a[i,j]);
            }
         }
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

C# Code for accessing Three-Dimensional Array Elements

namespace Sample ArrayProgram
 {
   class SampleArray
    {
      static void Main(string[] args)
       {
         int[, ,] b = new int[2, 2, 3] { { { 19, 22, 32 }, { 40, 45, 26 } }, { { 17, 38, 49  }, { 10, 76, 25 } } };
         for (int i = 0; i < b.GetLength(2); i++)
	  {
	    for (int j = 0; j < b.GetLength(1); j++)
	     {
              for (int k = 0; k < b.GetLength(0); k++)
                 {
                   Console.Write(b[k, j, i]);
	         }	        
	      }
	    Console.WriteLine();
	  }
        }
     }
  }

Multidimensional array has some advantages:

1. The multidimensional array is stored in a contiguous memory location so that it is easy to access its elements.

2. The multidimensional array allows us to represent multiple data items of the same type by use of a single variable name.

3. Elements of a multidimensional array take less access time.