How to create pointer to 2D array in C?

Question

I have a 2D array like this and I want a pointer to it.

Currently I have this:

char* recv_args_msg_queue[20];
char** ref_temp = &recv_args_msg_queue[0];
char*** ref_queue = &ref_temp;

But I feel my way is really dumb. Is there a way to do it on one line?

Note:

char* recv_args_msg_queue[20]; is later in my code allocated properly to be an array. I just wanted dynamic allocation otherwise I could have wrote:

char recv_args_msg_queue[20][another_number_here];

Answer 1

Using a typedef for your array type will make easier getting a pointer to it.

Your code would look like this:

typedef char* msg_queue20[20];

msg_queue20 recv_args_msg_queue;
msg_queue20* ref_queue = &recv_args_msg_queue;

Take care of reading the link I posted, as it contains important recommendations .