[C++] pointer to an array ?

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Hi. Can someone explain me why I cant make my pointer point to address of an array ?

C++

int main()
{
	char s[] = "string";
	char *p = &s;


    return 0;
}

But this works:

C++

int main()
{
	char s[] = "string";
	char *p = s;


    return 0;
}

And also Can someone explain me how this for loop works ?

C++

int main()
{
	char s[] = "string";
	
	for (char *cp = s; *cp; cp++)
	{
		printf("element %c \n", *cp);
	}


    return 0;
}

What I have tried:

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Posted 12-Jul-17 22:51pm

The_Unknown_Member

Updated 13-Jul-17 0:01am

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-12T23:07:00

Solution 1

You can't do this:

char s[] = "string";
char *p = &s;

because the name of an array is a pointer to the first element of that array. So s is already a pointer to a char, so &s is a pointer to a pointer to a char. You would need to change the type of p to use the address of s:

char s[] = "string";
char **p = &s;

This works:

char s[] = "string";
char *p = s;

because s is a pointer to a char, and so is p

Posted 12-Jul-17 23:07pm

OriginalGriff

Comments

The_Unknown_Member 13-Jul-17 6:44am

I also have another question. Lets say I have this array: char s[] = "string";
Since the arrays in C++ are pointers to a data in the memory and since the char is 1 byte so doing s[1] should be the same as s + 1 right ? But it does not compile ? Why ?

OriginalGriff 13-Jul-17 7:05am

That's going to depend on what - exactly - you are trying to compile.
If it's this:

printf("%c%c", s[0], s[1]);

Then it will compile, and it'll work - it will print the first two characters.
What code are you getting compilation problems with?