Char pointer in c++

Question

I am running the below code. I am getting run time error.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    char *p="hello";
    //p="Hi";
    *p='G';
    cout<<*p;
    return 0;
}

if this is giving error then what is use of const char *p="hello";In this case my string should be constant not in char *p="hello"

You can't change the memory where a `char [5] ` literal is placed by the linker. Also switch all warnings on when compiling. — πάντα ῥεῖ, Sep 30 '14 at 16:33
This code is no longer legal since C++11. String literals now decay to `const char*` only. — jrok, Sep 30 '14 at 16:36
possible duplicate of [What are all the common undefined behaviours that a C++ programmer should know about?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/367633/what-are-all-the-common-undefined-behaviours-that-a-c-programmer-should-know-a) — Deduplicator, Sep 30 '14 at 16:36
Use `char p[] = "hello";` if you want to create an array of 6 _non-constant_ chars, initialized with the values `{ 'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', '\0' }` — Jonathan Wakely, Sep 30 '14 at 16:43

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 30 '14 at 16:37

1

char *p="hello";
*p='G';

You make p point to a constant, "hello". But then you try to modify what p points to. By definition, constants cannot be modified.

answered Sep 30 '14 at 16:37

David Schwartz

what is the use of const char *p="hello" – Aman Sep 30 '14 at 16:44
@Aman There's plenty of use for `const char*` – πάντα ῥεῖ Sep 30 '14 at 17:01
@Aman None really. You should use `const char* p = "hello";` to avoid errors like this. It's almost never a good idea to point to a constant with a non-const pointer. – David Schwartz Sep 30 '14 at 17:04

1 Answers1