File: gawk.info,  Node: Array Manipulation,  Next: Redirection API,  Prev: Symbol Table Access,  Up: Extension API Description

17.4.12 Array Manipulation
--------------------------

The primary data structure(1) in 'awk' is the associative array (*note
Arrays::).  Extensions need to be able to manipulate 'awk' arrays.  The
API provides a number of data structures for working with arrays,
functions for working with individual elements, and functions for
working with arrays as a whole.  This includes the ability to "flatten"
an array so that it is easy for C code to traverse every element in an
array.  The array data structures integrate nicely with the data
structures for values to make it easy to both work with and create true
arrays of arrays (*note General Data Types::).

* Menu:

* Array Data Types::            Data types for working with arrays.
* Array Functions::             Functions for working with arrays.
* Flattening Arrays::           How to flatten arrays.
* Creating Arrays::             How to create and populate arrays.

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) OK, the only data structure.