Get The Last Element Of Array In C++

Navigating and manipulating arrays efficiently is an essential skill in C++ programming. One may often need to access the last element of an array for a variety of operations. This article outlines a simple line of code that can be used to access the last element of an array in C++ and explains how it works.

Code Snippet: Accessing Last Element of an Array in C++

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() 
{
  int arr[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
  int last_element = arr[sizeof(arr)/sizeof(*arr) - 1];
  cout<<"Last element of array is: "<<last_element<<endl;
  return 0;
}

Code Explanation: Accessing Last Element of an Array in C++

The code snippet above demonstrates a simple, effective, and immediate way of accessing the last element of an array in C++. Let’s break down how this works:

1. We start by declaring and initializing the array ‘arr’ with integers from 1 to 5.

   int arr[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

2. We then declare a variable ‘last_element’ to store the value of the last element of the array.

3. To get the last element, we use the expression sizeof(arr) / sizeof(*arr) - 1.

   The sizeof operator gives the total size of the array in bytes. It functions by dividing the total size of the array (using sizeof(arr)) by the size of one element in the array (using sizeof(*arr)). The result is exactly the number of elements in the array. The ‘-1’ at the end deducts one to give the last index since array in C++ starts with 0.

4. The calculated index is then used to access the element from the array.

   int last_element = arr[sizeof(arr)/sizeof(*arr) - 1];

5. Finally, we print the value of ‘last_element’ using the cout function.

   cout<<"Last element of array is: "<<last_element<<endl;

6. Thus, this program displays: “Last element of array is: 5”

So, the above-mentioned C++ code provides a handy method for accessing the last element of an array, regardless of the array’s size.