c++ Array

Question

Given the Array
int a[4] = {2,3,5,7};
I want to output the last item by using
cout << a[-1] .
But the output is 1983713634.
Why is that the case?

Thanks

Answer 1

For an array of size 4, the valid indices are: 0,1,2,3
So, if you want to access the last element, use a[3] instead.
-1 is invalid index, so it's printing garbage value.

Answer 2

As has been pointed out, C++ does not provide the feature of accessing the last element of the array via -1 array index, unlike how some other languages do.

Answer 3

Indexing of an array starts from 0.

in your program
a[0]=2;
a[1]=3;
a[2]=5;
a[3]=7;

to print last item .use
cout<<a[3];

since a[-1]; , does not exist.
cout<<a[-1]; gives out garbage output.

Answer 4

We cannot directly access the last element in the array
if u want the last element try this code
cout<<a[(sizeof(a)/sizeof(a[0]))-1];