add init_array, and data kwarg for create_array

changes/2761.feature.1.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Adds a new function ``init_array`` for initializing an array in storage, and refactors ``create_array``
+to use ``init_array``. ``create_array`` takes two a new parameters: ``data``, an optional array-like object, and ``write_data``, a bool which defaults to ``True``.
+If ``data`` is given to ``create_array``, then the ``dtype`` and ``shape`` attributes of ``data`` are used to define the
+corresponding attributes of the resulting Zarr array. Additionally, if ``data`` given and ``write_data`` is ``True``,
+then the values in ``data`` will be written to the newly created array.

src/zarr/api/synchronous.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Iterable
 
+    import numpy as np
     import numpy.typing as npt
 
     from zarr.abc.codec import Codec
@@ -744,8 +745,9 @@ def create_array(
     store: str | StoreLike,
     *,
     name: str | None = None,
-    shape: ShapeLike,
-    dtype: npt.DTypeLike,
+    shape: ShapeLike | None = None,
+    dtype: npt.DTypeLike | None = None,
+    data: np.ndarray[Any, np.dtype[Any]] | None = None,
     chunks: ChunkCoords | Literal["auto"] = "auto",
     shards: ShardsLike | None = None,
     filters: FiltersLike = "auto",
@@ -772,10 +774,13 @@ def create_array(
     name : str or None, optional
         The name of the array within the store. If ``name`` is ``None``, the array will be located
         at the root of the store.
-    shape : ChunkCoords
-        Shape of the array.
-    dtype : npt.DTypeLike
-        Data type of the array.
+    shape : ChunkCoords, optional
+        Shape of the array. Can be ``None`` if ``data`` is provided.
+    dtype : npt.DTypeLike, optional
+        Data type of the array. Can be ``None`` if ``data`` is provided.
+    data : Array-like data to use for initializing the array. If this parameter is provided, the
+        ``shape`` and ``dtype`` parameters must be identical to ``data.shape`` and ``data.dtype``,
+        or ``None``.
     chunks : ChunkCoords, optional
         Chunk shape of the array.
         If not specified, default are guessed based on the shape and dtype.
@@ -874,6 +879,7 @@ def create_array(
                 name=name,
                 shape=shape,
                 dtype=dtype,
+                data=data,
                 chunks=chunks,
                 shards=shards,
                 filters=filters,