Character Array vs String Constant Pointers

In C, there is two ways to define a string:

1. Define it as an array of character such as:

char aname[] = "Imad";

• The array would be of size number of characters plus 1 for the null terminating character.

2. Or define it as a pointer to string constant such as:

char *pname = "Imad";

They are almost identical except for 1 subtle difference: - aname will always point to the same storage and can’t be changed to point to something else. The characters themselves can be changed. - pname is a pointer so it can be changed to point to something else. If we try to modify the underlying characters, the result is undefined.