How FORTRAN Stores Two-Dimensional Arrays in Memory

 Last reviewed: December 11, 1995
Article ID: Q27780
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft FORTRAN for MS-DOS, versions 4.0, 4.01, 4.1, and 5.1
  • Microsoft FORTRAN for OS/2, versions 4.1 and 5.10
  • Microsoft FORTRAN PowerStation for MS-DOS, versions 1.0 and 1.0a
  • Microsoft FORTRAN PowerStation 32 for Windows NT, version 1.0 and 4.0

FORTRAN is different from languages such as C and Pascal in the way that it stores two-dimensional arrays in memory. Although array elements are referenced in row major notation, i.e., (row, column), just as in C or Pascal, FORTRAN stores two-dimensional arrays as one-dimensional column arrays.

For example, in C, a two-dimensional array with three rows and four columns will be stored in memory in the following sequence: 

  (1,1),(1,2),(1,3),(1,4),(2,1),(2,2),(2,3),(2,4),(3,1),(3,2),(3,3),(3,4)
However, FORTRAN will store the same array in the following sequence: 

  (1,1),(2,1),(3,1),(1,2),(2,2),(3,2),(1,3),(2,3),(3,3),(1,4),(2,4),(3,4)

Additional reference words: kbinf 4.00 4.10 5.10 1.00
KBCategory: kbusage
KBSubcategory: FORTLngIss

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Last reviewed: December 11, 1995
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