Question

I am trying to add some text values into an array such as

• some value 1
• some value 2
• some value 3
• etc..

here is the procedure i follow:

char values_array[3][80];
values_array[0][80] = "Rock and Rolla";
cout << values_array[0] << endl;

and i get the following error:

invalid conversion from `const char*' to `char' 

Answer 1

The error message states exactly what the problem is. The assignment is attempting to assign a const char*, the type of string string literal, to a char, the type of values_array[0][80]. The incorrect immediate response would be change it to:

values_array[0] = "Rock and Rolla";

but this is also incorrect as it is not possible to assign arrays. Either copy the string literal or, preferably, use a std::vector<std::string> instead:

std::vector<std::string> values;
values.push_back("Rock and Rolla");

std::cout << values[0] << std::endl;

Using a std::vector<std::string> eliminates the hard-coded limit on the number of strings that can be stored and potential buffer-overrun problems when copying the string literals (or other strings) into the array elements.