Character Arrays and Strings
Explore how C++ handles text using character arrays and strings. Learn to declare, initialize, access, and modify these data structures, and understand their differences. This lesson equips you with the skills to manage text efficiently in your C++ programs using both fixed-size arrays and dynamic string objects.
We'll cover the following...
In C++, when we want to work with text, we can use either a string object or a character array. For now, think of these as different ways to store and handle the text. In this lesson, we’ll explore both concepts and learn how they work.
What is a character array?
A character array is a sequence of individual characters stored in consecutive memory locations. Think of it like a train with multiple compartments, where each compartment can hold one character. We can declare a character array using the char keyword followed by parenthesis [] with the number of characters.
For example, a character array named Educative containing 8 characters can be declared as follows:
In memory, it can be represented as:
Key points
Here are some of the key points about character arrays:
A character array has a fixed size that must be declared when created.
The memory of a character array is allocated during compilation.
Each index in a character array can only hold a single character. ...