char *p and char p[].

Applications Programming
1

Can anyone please explain me the difference between char *p and char p[] ?

Thanks in Advance,
Arun.

2

The difference is that 'char *p' is a pointer while 'char p[n]' is an array. So char p will be allocated enough space to hold a memory address that will contain a character type variable, while p[n] will be allocated nsizeof(character type) contiguous memory locations where the data will reside.

If you allocate space using 'char p[10]', then using something like

printf("%c",p[0]);

or

printf("%c",*p);

will give the same output.

3

there can be numerous differences, depends on what context you want to use this in. The basic difference is as pointed above by blowtorch.

4

Considering that arrays are also pointers, there's two main differences.

  • Arrays are allocated space. The only reason function arguments get away with leaving the [] empty is they are passed a pointer, which the compiler assumes to have been allocated.
  • Arrays are constant. You can't change their base address.

Other than that, pointers and arrays are nearly identical.

5

You can think about arrays as constant pointers on automatically allocated memory that cannot be released