Trying to return a 2d array from a method-CodePudding

Making a Hangman game. I want in this function to take the 'Answer' which has been validated elsewhere in my code and split it into its individual letters and then Hangman equivalent representative.
e.g.:

abc == ___   
hi world == __/_____ and so on..

I am using a 2d array 'UncoveredArray' to hold this data. I want to now return it to my main so that it can be used for the next step of the game in another method.

static void Main(string[] args)
{            
    NewGame Hangman = new NewGame();
    string Answer = Hangman.GetWord();
    
    var UncoveredArray = new char[Answer.Length, 2];       

    UncoveredArray = Hangman.ProcessWord(Answer, out UncoveredArray);

public char[] ProcessWord(string Answer, out char UncoveredArray)
{
    char[] chars = Answer.ToCharArray();
    var UncoveredArray = new char[chars.Length, 2];

    for (int i = 0; i < Answer.Length; i  )
    {
        if (chars[i] == ' ')
        {
            Console.Write("/");
            UncoveredArray[i, 0] = chars[i];
            UncoveredArray[i, 1] = '/';
        }
        else if (char.IsPunctuation(chars[i]))
        {
            Console.Write(chars[i]);
            UncoveredArray[i, 0] = chars[i];
            UncoveredArray[i, 1] = chars[i];
        }
        else
        {
            Console.Write("_");

            UncoveredArray[i, 0] = chars[i];
            UncoveredArray[i, 1] = '_';
        }
    }
    return UncoveredArray;
    //TODO: RETURN ARRAY 
}

CodePudding user response：

The confusion arises from unnecessary use of a out parameter. Simplify things: just return a new instance

public char[,] ProcessWord(string answer) {} //logic remains more or less the same

//in Main() use it like
char [,] uncoveredArray = hangman.ProcessWord(answer);

Notice in your original method, you pass in the char[,] UncoveredArray as an output parameter and then immediately cobbler it with var UncoveredArray = new char[chars.Length, 2];. This is not only pointless but this won't even compile. Be careful, you never want to attempt to create a new variable with the same name, especially when its the name of a parameter. As far as I know C# doesn't support something like Rust's "shadowing" which allows such a phenomenon

Also the return type must be char[,] not char[]. The first is an actual 2D array, while the first is 1D

Use of explicit typing, rather than var helps out a lot in cases like this. Please be sure to follow proper naming conventions for variables, classes, and methods as well