Thread: Why isnt it possible to assign individual char in char array?

char *name = "abcd";
name[2] = 'A';

(gdb) runStarting program: /home/a/src/c/ex9


Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x000000000040052a in main (argc=1, argv=0x7fffffffe238) at ex9.c:9
9 name[2] = 'A';

Because that's not a char array, it's a string literal. Change it to a true char array if you want to change the contents.

It is possible, but that is a string literal and modifying it is undefined behavior. Try this instead:

Code:

char name[] = "abcd";

BTW, if you are using a string literal, add a const qualifier, it will prevent you from modifying it.