Borland doesn't like an empty array matrix?

Borland C++ doesn't like when I define an array like this:

char test[];

For some reason a number always needs to be in the []..why is that?

-andy

You are defining an array for which space will be allocated. The compiler needs to know how much space to allocate. You can use the [] in a declaration, but not in a definition.

As 3dfxMM points out, you need to tell the compiler how big the array will be so that it can allocate enough memory to it. There are a couple ways to do that:

1. Do it explicitly; e.g.:
char test[10];

2. Do it implicitly with an initialization string or array; e.g.:
char test[] = "Just do it like this";
int itest[] = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}

If you really and honestly and truly don't want to or cannot specify its size at compile time, then use the alternative syntax and declare it as a pointer and allocate it dynamically at runtime; e.g.:
char *test;