What is the difference between char array vs char pointer in C?

Question

I am trying to understand pointers in C but I am currently confused with the following:- char *p = "hello" This is a char pointer pointing at the character array, starting at _h_.- char p[] = "hello" This is an array that stores _hello_.What is the difference when I pass both these variables into this function? void printSomething(char *p) { printf("p: %s",p); }

Answer 1

When you pass the array, you are passing the BASE ADDRESS; that is, the address of the first element in the array.

Be careful now, char * p = "hello"; is dangerous. This is an unintialized pointer and you are using it.

Always use malloc and free for pointers like that.

Here's some code:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

void printSomething ( char * strMsgBuff)

{

printf(strMsgBuff);

}

int main()

{

char buff[255]=" Hello ";

char * strName = (char *)malloc(255);

if (strName==NULL) { return(-1); }

printSomething(buff);

printf(" What is your name ???? :>");

scanf("%s",strName);

sprintf( buff ," Hello %s \n",strName);

printSomething(buff);

free(strName);

}