What happens if I try to define a pointer which points to a string literal in C?

Question

For example,

char * first = "Hello World!";

My questions is,

Is the string literal stored in memory? (If it is I guess the pointer first is the address of inital element of the string literal "Hello World")
If not, then is some kind of random pointer value stored in first?

1. Yes. 2. Moot, since the first answer is "yes". – Jason C Aug 29 '16 at 05:20 — Jason C, Aug 29 '16 at 05:20
What do you mean by `saving a pointer`? – Aug 29 '16 at 05:21 — , Aug 29 '16 at 05:21
@RawN I think the word "define" is more suitable ! – Jin Aug 29 '16 at 05:22 — Jin, Aug 29 '16 at 05:22
@RawN I think he means store the pointer in `first`. – Robert Columbia Aug 29 '16 at 05:23 — Robert Columbia, Aug 29 '16 at 05:23

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 29 '16 at 05:23

Yes, string literals are stored in memory. The C and C++ standards just say that string literals have static storage duration, any attempt at modifying them gives undefined behavior, and multiple string literals with the same contents may or may not share the same storage.

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 29 '16 at 05:26

3

Yes the string literal is stored in memory, usually it's stored in the .rodata section

edited Aug 29 '16 at 05:26

Iharob Al Asimi

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answered Aug 29 '16 at 05:23

Ying YIN

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score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

1

It depends on your platform and it is implementation-defined. In general it goes to the read-only memory, if available on your system. Read more here.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

Community

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answered Aug 29 '16 at 05:25

gsamaras

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What happens if I try to define a pointer which points to a string literal in C?

3 Answers3