# Accessing matrix elements
**URL:** https://community.freefem.org/t/accessing-matrix-elements/981
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [May 17, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/accessing-matrix-elements/981 "2021-05-17T23:52:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@amtravco](https://community.freefem.org/u/amtravco)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/accessing-matrix-elements/981/1 "2021-05-17T23:52:02Z")
Two simple questions. Suppose I have a matrix created as
matrix C =
[[1, 2, 3],
[2, 4, 0],
[8, 1, 9]];
How can I access individual elements of this matrix? I have tried the obvious C[1][2] = 5 but this syntax is not allowed.
Also, how would I create a matrix without needing to specify its initial elements, as was done for C above? Something like “real[int][int] D(20, 20)”, although again this is not correct.
---
### Author:  [@amtravco](https://community.freefem.org/u/amtravco)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/accessing-matrix-elements/981/2 "2021-05-18T00:02:58Z")
OK, I figured it out. The syntax is
```
real[int, int] A(3, 3);
```
to create an array and
```
A(1,2) = 7;
```
to access an element.