How Do I Find the Length of an Array?

As others have said, you can use the sizeof(arr)/sizeof(*arr), but this will give you the wrong answer for pointer types that aren't arrays.

template<class T, size_t N>
constexpr size_t size(T (&)[N]) { return N; }

This has the nice property of failing to compile for non-array types (Visual Studio has _countof which does this). The constexpr makes this a compile time expression so it doesn't have any drawbacks over the macro (at least none I know of).

You can also consider using std::array from C++11, which exposes its length with no overhead over a native C array.

C++17 has std::size() in the <iterator> header which does the same and works for STL containers too (thanks to @Jon C).

Doing sizeof myArray will get you the total number of bytes allocated for that array. You can then find out the number of elements in the array by dividing by the size of one element in the array: sizeof myArray[0]

So, you get something like:

size_t LengthOfArray = sizeof myArray / sizeof myArray[0];

Since sizeof yields a size_t, the result LengthOfArray will also be of this type.

While this is an old question, it's worth updating the answer to C++17. In the standard library there is now the templated function std::size(), which returns the number of elements in both a std container or a C-style array. For example:

#include <iterator>

uint32_t data[] = {10, 20, 30, 40};
auto dataSize = std::size(data);
// dataSize == 4

Is there a way to find how many values an array has?

Yes!

Try sizeof(array)/sizeof(array[0])

Detecting whether or not I've reached the end of an array would also work.

I dont see any way for this unless your array is an array of characters (i.e string).

P.S : In C++ always use std::vector. There are several inbuilt functions and an extended functionality.

std::vector has a method size() which returns the number of elements in the vector.

(Yes, this is tongue-in-cheek answer)

#include <iostream>

int main ()
{
    using namespace std;
    int arr[] = {2, 7, 1, 111};
    auto array_length = end(arr) - begin(arr);
    cout << "Length of array: " << array_length << endl;
}

Since C++11, some new templates are introduced to help reduce the pain when dealing with array length. All of them are defined in header <type_traits>.

• std::rank<T>::value

  If T is an array type, provides the member constant value equal to the number of dimensions of the array. For any other type, value is 0.

• std::extent<T, N>::value

  If T is an array type, provides the member constant value equal to the number of elements along the Nth dimension of the array, if N is in [0, std::rank<T>::value). For any other type, or if T is array of unknown bound along its first dimension and N is 0, value is 0.

• std::remove_extent<T>::type

  If T is an array of some type X, provides the member typedef type equal to X, otherwise type is T. Note that if T is a multidimensional array, only the first dimension is removed.

• std::remove_all_extents<T>::type

  If T is a multidimensional array of some type X, provides the member typedef type equal to X, otherwise type is T.

To get the length on any dimension of a multidimential array, decltype could be used to combine with std::extent. For example:

#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits> // std::remove_extent std::remove_all_extents std::rank std::extent

template<class T, size_t N>
constexpr size_t length(T(&)[N]) { return N; }

template<class T, size_t N>
constexpr size_t length2(T(&arr)[N]) { return sizeof(arr) / sizeof(*arr); }

int main()
{
    int a[5][4][3]{{{1,2,3}, {4,5,6}}, { }, {{7,8,9}}};

    // New way
    constexpr auto l1 = std::extent<decltype(a)>::value;     // 5
    constexpr auto l2 = std::extent<decltype(a), 1>::value;  // 4
    constexpr auto l3 = std::extent<decltype(a), 2>::value;  // 3
    constexpr auto l4 = std::extent<decltype(a), 3>::value;  // 0

    // Mixed way
    constexpr auto la = length(a);
    //constexpr auto lpa = length(*a);  // compile error
    //auto lpa = length(*a);  // get at runtime
    std::remove_extent<decltype(a)>::type pa;  // get at compile time
    //std::remove_reference<decltype(*a)>::type pa;  // same as above
    constexpr auto lpa = length(pa);
    std::cout << la << ' ' << lpa << '\n';

    // Old way
    constexpr auto la2 = sizeof(a) / sizeof(*a);
    constexpr auto lpa2 = sizeof(*a) / sizeof(**a);
    std::cout << la2 << ' ' << lpa2 << '\n';

    return 0;
}

BTY, to get the total number of elements in a multidimentional array:

constexpr auto l = sizeof(a) / sizeof(std::remove_all_extents<decltype(a)>::type);

Or put it in a function template:

#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
    

template<class T>
constexpr size_t len(T &a)
{
    return sizeof(a) / sizeof(typename std::remove_all_extents<T>::type);
}

int main()
{
    int a[5][4][3]{{{1,2,3}, {4,5,6}}, { }, {{7,8,9}}};
    constexpr auto ttt = len(a);
    int i;
    std::cout << ttt << ' ' << len(i) << '\n';
    
    return 0;
}

More examples of how to use them could be found by following the links.

This is pretty much old and legendary question and there are already many amazing answers out there. But with time there are new functionalities being added to the languages, so we need to keep on updating things as per new features available.

I just noticed any one hasn't mentioned about C++20 yet. So thought to write answer.

C++20

In C++20, there is a new better way added to the standard library for finding the length of array i.e. std:ssize(). This function returns a signed value.

#include <iostream>

int main() {
    int arr[] = {1, 2, 3};
    std::cout << std::ssize(arr);
    return 0;
}