char *array and char array[]

Question

if I write this

 char *array = \"One good thing about music\";

I actually create an array? I mean it\'s the same like this?

Answer 1

No, you're creating an array, but there's a big difference:

char *string = "Some CONSTANT string";
printf("%c\n", string[1]);//prints o
string[1] = 'v';//INVALID!!

The array is created in a read only part of memory, so you can't edit the value through the pointer, whereas:

char string[] = "Some string";

creates the same, read only, constant string, and copies it to the stack array. That's why:

string[1] = 'v';

Is valid in the latter case.
If you write:

char string[] = {"some", " string"};

the compiler should complain, because you're constructing an array of char arrays (or char pointers), and assigning it to an array of chars. Those types don't match up. Either write:

char string[] = {'s','o','m', 'e', ' ', 's', 't','r','i','n','g', '\o'};
//this is a bit silly, because it's the same as char string[] = "some string";
//or
char *string[] = {"some", " string"};//array of pointers to CONSTANT strings
//or
char string[][10] = {"some", " string"};

Where the last version gives you an array of strings (arrays of chars) that you actually can edit...