How to initialize all members of an array to the same value?

Unless that value is 0 (in which case you can omit some part of the initializer and the corresponding elements will be initialized to 0), there's no easy way.

Don't overlook the obvious solution, though:

int myArray[10] = { 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 };

Elements with missing values will be initialized to 0:

int myArray[10] = { 1, 2 }; // initialize to 1,2,0,0,0...

So this will initialize all elements to 0:

int myArray[10] = { 0 }; // all elements 0

In C++, an empty initialization list will also initialize every element to 0. This is not allowed with C until C23:

int myArray[10] = {}; // all elements 0 in C++ and C23

Remember that objects with static storage duration will initialize to 0 if no initializer is specified:

static int myArray[10]; // all elements 0

And that "0" doesn't necessarily mean "all-bits-zero", so using the above is better and more portable than memset(). (Floating point values will be initialized to +0, pointers to null value, etc.)

If your compiler is GCC you can use following "GNU extension" syntax:

int array[1024] = {[0 ... 1023] = 5};

Check out detailed description: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.1.2/gcc/Designated-Inits.html

If you want to ensure that every member of the array is explicitly initialized, just omit the dimension from the declaration:

int myArray[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };

The compiler will deduce the dimension from the initializer list. Unfortunately, for multidimensional arrays only the outermost dimension may be omitted:

int myPoints[][3] = { { 1, 2, 3 }, { 4, 5, 6 }, { 7, 8, 9} };

is OK, but

int myPoints[][] = { { 1, 2, 3 }, { 4, 5, 6 }, { 7, 8, 9} };

is not.

I saw some code that used this syntax:

char* array[] = 
{
    [0] = "Hello",
    [1] = "World"
};   

Where it becomes particularly useful is if you're making an array that uses enums as the index:

enum
{
    ERR_OK,
    ERR_FAIL,
    ERR_MEMORY
};

#define _ITEM(x) [x] = #x

char* array[] = 
{
    _ITEM(ERR_OK),
    _ITEM(ERR_FAIL),
    _ITEM(ERR_MEMORY)
};   

This keeps things in order, even if you happen to write some of the enum-values out of order.

More about this technique can be found here and here.

int i;
for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE; ++i)
{
  myArray[i] = VALUE;
}

I think this is better than

int myArray[10] = { 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5...

incase the size of the array changes.

You can do the whole static initializer thing as detailed above, but it can be a real bummer when your array size changes (when your array embiggens, if you don't add the appropriate extra initializers you get garbage).

memset gives you a runtime hit for doing the work, but no code size hit done right is immune to array size changes. I would use this solution in nearly all cases when the array was larger than, say, a few dozen elements.

If it was really important that the array was statically declared, I'd write a program to write the program for me and make it part of the build process.

Here is another way:

static void
unhandled_interrupt(struct trap_frame *frame, int irq, void *arg)
{
    //this code intentionally left blank
}

static struct irqtbl_s vector_tbl[XCHAL_NUM_INTERRUPTS] = {
    [0 ... XCHAL_NUM_INTERRUPTS-1] {unhandled_interrupt, NULL},
};

See:

C-Extensions

Designated inits

Then ask the question: When can one use C extensions?

The code sample above is in an embedded system and will never see the light from another compiler.

I know the original question explicitly mentions C and not C++, but if you (like me) came here looking for a solution for C++ arrays, here's a neat trick:

If your compiler supports fold expressions, you can use template magic and std::index_sequence to generate an initializer list with the value that you want. And you can even constexpr it and feel like a boss:

#include <array>

/// [3]
/// This functions's only purpose is to ignore the index given as the second
/// template argument and to always produce the value passed in.
template<class T, size_t /*ignored*/>
constexpr T identity_func(const T& value) {
    return value;
}

/// [2]
/// At this point, we have a list of indices that we can unfold
/// into an initializer list using the `identity_func` above.
template<class T, size_t... Indices>
constexpr std::array<T, sizeof...(Indices)>
make_array_of_impl(const T& value, std::index_sequence<Indices...>) {
    return {identity_func<T, Indices>(value)...};
}

/// [1]
/// This is the user-facing function.
/// The template arguments are swapped compared to the order used
/// for std::array, this way we can let the compiler infer the type
/// from the given value but still define it explicitly if we want to.
template<size_t Size, class T>
constexpr std::array<T, Size> 
make_array_of(const T& value) {
    using Indices = std::make_index_sequence<Size>;
    return make_array_of_impl(value, Indices{});
}

// std::array<int, 4>{42, 42, 42, 42}
constexpr auto test_array = make_array_of<4/*, int*/>(42);
static_assert(test_array[0] == 42);
static_assert(test_array[1] == 42);
static_assert(test_array[2] == 42);
static_assert(test_array[3] == 42);
// static_assert(test_array[4] == 42); out of bounds

You can take a look at the code at work (at Wandbox)

For initializing 'normal' data types (like int arrays), you can use the bracket notation, but it will zero the values after the last if there is still space in the array:

// put values 1-8, then two zeroes
int list[10] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};

If the array happens to be int or anything with the size of int or your mem-pattern's size fits exact times into an int (i.e. all zeroes or 0xA5A5A5A5), the best way is to use memset().

Otherwise call memcpy() in a loop moving the index.

int array[1024] = {[0 ... 1023] = 5};

As the above works fine but make sure no spaces between the ... dots.

I know that user Tarski answered this question in a similar manner, but I added a few more details. Forgive some of my C for I'm a bit rusty at it since I'm more inclined to want to use C++, but here it goes.

If you know the size of the array ahead of time...

#include <stdio.h>

typedef const unsigned int cUINT;
typedef unsigned int UINT;

cUINT size = 10;
cUINT initVal = 5;

void arrayInitializer( UINT* myArray, cUINT size, cUINT initVal );
void printArray( UINT* myArray ); 

int main() {        
    UINT myArray[size]; 
    /* Not initialized during declaration but can be
    initialized using a function for the appropriate TYPE*/
    arrayInitializer( myArray, size, initVal );

    printArray( myArray );

    return 0;
}

void arrayInitializer( UINT* myArray, cUINT size, cUINT initVal ) {
    for ( UINT n = 0; n < size; n++ ) {
        myArray[n] = initVal;
    }
}

void printArray( UINT* myArray ) {
    printf( "myArray = { " );
    for ( UINT n = 0; n < size; n++ ) {
        printf( "%u", myArray[n] );

        if ( n < size-1 )
            printf( ", " );
    }
    printf( " }\n" );
}

There are a few caveats above; one is that UINT myArray[size]; is not directly initialized upon declaration, however the very next code block or function call does initialize each element of the array to the same value you want. The other caveat is, you would have to write an initializing function for each type you will support and you would also have to modify the printArray() function to support those types.

You can try this code with an online complier found here.

For delayed initialization (i.e. class member constructor initialization) consider:

int a[4];

unsigned int size = sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]);
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < size; i++)
  a[i] = 0;

If the size of the array is known in advance, one could use a Boost preprocessor C_ARRAY_INITIALIZE macro to do the dirty job for you:

#include <boost/preprocessor/repetition/enum.hpp>
#define C_ARRAY_ELEMENT(z, index, name) name[index]
#define C_ARRAY_EXPAND(name,size) BOOST_PP_ENUM(size,C_ARRAY_ELEMENT,name)
#define C_ARRAY_VALUE(z, index, value) value
#define C_ARRAY_INITIALIZE(value,size) BOOST_PP_ENUM(size,C_ARRAY_VALUE,value)

To initialize with zeros -

  char arr[1000] = { 0 };

It is better to do with normal "for loop" for initialing other than 0.

  char arr[1000];
  for(int i=0; i<arr.size(); i++){
     arr[i] = 'A';
  }

method 1 :

int a[5] = {3,3,3,3,3}; 

formal initialization technique.

method 2 :

int a[100] = {0};

but its worth to note that

int a[10] = {1}; 

doesn't initialize all values to 1

this way of initialization exclusively for 0

if you just do

int a[100];

some compilers tend to take garbage value hence its always preferred to do

int a[1000] = {0};

Just as a follow up of the answer of Clemens Sielaff. This version requires C++17.

template <size_t Cnt, typename T>                                               
std::array<T, Cnt> make_array_of(const T& v)                                           
{                                                                               
    return []<size_t... Idx>(std::index_sequence<Idx...>, const auto& v)        
    {                                                                           
        auto identity = [](const auto& v, size_t) { return v; };                
        return std::array{identity(v, Idx)...};                                 
    }                                                                           
    (std::make_index_sequence<Cnt>{}, v);                                       
}

You can see it in action here.

#include<stdio.h>
int main(){
int i,a[50];
for (i=0;i<50;i++){
    a[i]=5;// set value 5 to all the array index
}
for (i=0;i<50;i++)
printf("%d\n",a[i]);
   return 0;
}

It will give the o/p 5 5 5 5 5 5 ...... till the size of whole array

Back in the day (and I'm not saying it's a good idea), we'd set the first element and then:

memcpy (&element [1], &element [0], sizeof (element)-sizeof (element [0]);

Not even sure it would work any more (that would depend on the implementation of memcpy) but it works by repeatedly copying the initial element to the next - even works for arrays of structures.