New to arrays-where do I find a good beginners guide to multi dimensional arrays

I don't know if this helps or not. Maybe it's too basic.

Think of a chess (or checker) board as a 2D array. You would dimension it 8x8. (Dim MyArray 1 to 8, 1 to 8)

MyArray(1,1) would be the upper left square, MyArray(8,8) would be the lower right square etc.

So now, a 3D Array is simply one or more chessboards on TOP of the first one. If you just have ONE extra board (for a total of 2) your array looks like this: MyArray(1 to 2, 1 to 8, 1 to 8).

If you want to refer to a cell location on the TOP board, you would reference it like this: MyArray(1, 4, 3)

If you're referring to the cell same location on the board underneath it, you reference it with a 2 instead of a 1, like this: MyArray(2, 4, 3)

If you've got 100 chessboards, the very last board, and the very corner cell, would be MyArray(100, 8, 8)


That might help to understand the "concept" of multidimensional arrays.

are you doing something like trying to specify the cell in the i-th row of the j-th column of the k-th worksheet?

so you find say its value by MsgBox Array_3D(17, 3, 4).value, or its format, or whatever?

So basically, let's say your workbook has 10 sheets. Each sheet has, of course, data in the rows and columns. And as you say, each sheet is like a 2D array. So what you do is create a 3D array that's dimensions like this: MyArray(1 to 10, 1 to max_rows, 1 to max_columns)

Max_rows is the number of rows you have, in whatever worksheet that has most rows.
Max_columns is the number of columns you have, in whatever worksheet that has most columns.
And, of course, 1 thru ten indicates each individual worksheet in this workbook.

So you loop through all ten worksheets, incrementing the loop counter each time, and each time copying the data from all the rows and columns of each worksheet into the array. Something like this:

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How's that?

If you have lots and lots of data, turn application screenupdating off, and also go make yourself a cup of coffee while it's running.

3D array is not feasible IMO.

I'd go with Jugged array (arrays in an array)

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3D array have fixed size in 1 st & 2 nd dimention.

Whereas Jugged array (arrays in an array) can have flexible size of arrays as an element of main array.