Character arrays and pointers - part 1

See complete series on pointers in C/C++ here:

See part 2 of this lesson here:

In this lesson, we have described how we can work with character arrays using pointers. Character arrays are used to store strings in C and we work with them for all kind of string manipulation. Working with string in C is tricky and requires good understanding of pointers.

Feel free to drop your comments. feedback and suggestions.

[keen]

This guy explains really well. I have a full book on pointers, but I prefer to watch his videos. Awesome C course.

[thisaintmyrealname]

This whole channel is gold. Thanks. I'm watching this as I read the K&R C book.

[eriaardwen]

The code at 14:30 works because the character array C is stored in a contiguous block of memory, so when we increased the pointer C, we were traversed through the character array C by one byte at a time, which is the amount of memory required to store a character. Once the pointer reaches the null terminator, the loop ends.

[naboulsikhalid]

I see everybody is benefiting from your teaching, and I will thank you for doing so. Great simple concise and complete explanation. Thank you

[mycodeschool]

Hi HashDLS,
Size of pointer variable will always be same whether its a pointer to int or pointer to char. Its an address right. So, It's about how many bytes we want to use to store an address. Now, this could be address of anything. In 2 bytes or 16 bits we can store max 2^16 addresses, in 4 bytes or 32 bits - 2^32. It depends upon compiler and architecture of machine. Turbo -C may be compiling for 16 bit architecture. CodeBlocks would be compiling for 32 bit architecture.

[harunwagura]

14:30 works because: Since the array is passed by reference to the function, the pointer will point to the base of the array which is index 0. Then because C is passed as a char pointer, incrementing C by one will ensure traversing the array char after char since a char is 1 byte.

[GKT]

Sir you did really great job to demonstrated all concepts in very lucid way, you are rally adept, veteran teacher who delivered such complex topics in such a way to ease way to understandable

[ozzyfromspace]

For the question at the end, I think it works because the function print(char* C) took a pointer as argument. Well, pointers can be incremented, so starting at the initial address of the string allows us to locate all the characters because they are stored contiguously in memory. Is this right? Thank you.

[chriswesley]

You have made a superb video - many thanks.

[kaino]

I dont usually write stuff like this but your video has helped explain alot that ive had trouble with at uni. Wish I had learnt this earlier but better late then never, thanks heaps and great video

[yashpandey]

at 9:31 you said that print C2[1] will give us value l ???? But shouldn't it give us the value e ?

[mohamedatef]

This video didn't become the top viewed in this subject for nothing . Thank you sir

[nathanbivens]

When printing c2[1], why is that printing out a letter? If c2 is a pointer to the address of the first character of c1, wouldn't: print c2[1]; print out 201 (the address of the second element of the array)? I could see how running: print *c2[1]; would give you 'e', but that's not what's written.

[SmartProgramming]

awesome work sir, really appreciating, thank you 👍👍

[alirezaghodsipoor]

Awesome! God bless you. Good example when you first didn't insert and then inserted null character at the end of string.

[tomasz-rozanski]

You can also implement print() function like this:

void print(char *s)
{
while (*s)
printf("%c", *s++);
printf("\n");
}

[sebyandrisan]

Your videos saved my exams at university
Thank you from Greece!

[carolinagordillo]

you are such a great teacher, thanks a lot! your video helped me hugely!

[ceechi]

@mycodeschool ur tutorials are simply the best. thx a lot

[steveokinevo]

These vidz are fantastic thanks for your time creating and uploading them...