Thread: whats the difference?

Originally posted by phptech
please, whats the difference between

char* name;

and

char name;

thanx!

You really should just continue your old thread. That being said, one is a pointer, one is a single character.

* deontes a pointer. This means that the variable itself doesn't have space allocated to it* but rather, it is used to point to another variable. (Hence the name 'pointer'.)

*The only space allocated there is for the actual pointer itself. You assign pointers the addresses of other variables, not actual data.

If you've got a C book, go read up on pointers. If not, read the FAQ.

Quzah.

char* represents a pointer to char, which is a data type that's usually one byte long. This pointer, unless it's allocated or explicitly set, points to memory that's undefined.

char contains only a single variable of the char type.

In holding character strings, you usually define a char array that can hold the desired maximum amount:

Code:

char name[200];