# Accessing Gridmap Elements
> [HTML Version](accessinggridmapelements.htm)
_Rewritten December 2025_
Gridmap elements are accessed using the same two-dimensional (row,column) array syntax as for assignments, as in the example below.
dimx \$items, gridmap(int; varstr; varstr) \! alphanumeric column key
dimx \$table, gridmap(int; int; varstr) \! numeric column key
? \$items(row,"SKU")
? \$table(15,22)
You can also access the elements sequentially using Gridmap Iteration.
Since gridmaps are conceptually equivalent to files (rows=record numbers, columns=fields), you may want to create wrapper functions to simulate record I/O—i.e., indexing by column values, accessing a row using record.field syntax, etc. See [fngridutl.bsi in SOSLIB:\[907,10\]](https://bitbucket.org/microsabio/soslib/src/master/907010/fngridutl.bsi) for a collection of such utility functions.