thanks so much. i understand all that have been suggested.

how about doing it in c++ syntax?
i am rather new to c++, and thus cant really convert the syntax in c to c++.

hope that someone can...

anyone remembers the syntax of reading a file into C and subsequently printing it out?

for eg. i have the file 'matrix.txt'
the contents inside the file is as follows:

<matrix>
rows = 2; ...

below is one of my function call of a program done in C:

/* asks if the players would like to have another game of Tic Tac Toe */
void prompt_user(int game[][SIZE])
{
char reply;
...