Question

char *p = "string"; //creates pointer to constant string

char p[] = "string"; //just an array with "string"

I’m just a bit confused about why does it in the first example create a pointer to a constant string? Shouldn’t it be just a pointer refering to a place in memory with “string”?

Answer 1

It is unfortunately legal in C (and in C++03, for compatibility). But any attempt to modify the string literal via the pointer will result in Undefined behavior. So, better always assign the string literal to a const char*

const char * cp = "Hello"; //OK
char* p = "Hello"; //OK in C and C++03 (unfortunately), Illegal in C++11
cp[0] = 'Y'; //Compile-time error, good
p[0] = 'Y'; //no compiler error, undefined behavior