A vector that is used in the representation of a ragged array. For example, the elements of a row-ragged array, A, would be stored row by row in a vector B. The ith element of the access vector would then point to the position in B where the first element of the ith row of A was stored (see diagram). A column-ragged array would be similarly represented using an access vector referring to the beginning of columns and a listing of the elements column by column.

Access vector.