Passing a std::array of unknown size to a function

Question

In C++11, how would I go about writing a function (or method) that takes a std::array of known type but unknown size?

// made up example
void mulArray(std::array<int, ?>& arr, const int multiplier) {
    for(auto& e : arr) {
        e *= multiplier;
    }
}

// lets imagine these being full of numbers
std::array<int, 17> arr1;
std::array<int, 6>  arr2;
std::array<int, 95> arr3;

mulArray(arr1, 3);
mulArray(arr2, 5);
mulArray(arr3, 2);

During my search I only found suggestions to use templates, but those seems messy (method definitions in header) and excessive for what I'm trying to accomplish.

Is there a simple way to make this work, as one would with plain C-style arrays?

Answer 1

Is there a simple way to make this work, as one would with plain C-style arrays?

No. You really cannot do that unless you make your function a function template (or use another sort of container, like an std::vector, as suggested in the comments to the question):

template<std::size_t SIZE>
void mulArray(std::array<int, SIZE>& arr, const int multiplier) {
    for(auto& e : arr) {
        e *= multiplier;
    }
}

Here is a live example.