Why can a string be assigned to a char* pointer, but not to a char[] array?

Question

Can someone explain why this works with the pointer:

char * str1;

str1 = \"Hello1\";

str1 = \"new string\";

// but not this
char str2 [] = \"hello\";
str         


        

Answer 1

Put simply, because an array is not a first-class object in C/C++. The only way to assign to an array is to use str(n)cpy or memcpy.

While an array collapses into a pointer when passed to a function, it is not possible to assign to an array, except at compile-time as initialisation.