array compilation errors 1

[BigxRed]

hello, i am currently trying to accommodate myself with the c language. i have been trying to learn by reading "C: The Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie (typically referred to as the "White Bible"). I have been trying to write-up some code of my own that consists of the following:

main(){
int i;
i = 0;

char sarray [17];
sarray = "This is a string!";

while (i != '\0')
printf("sarray");
printf("\n");
}

however, whenever i try to run gcc (I have been doing all of my coding on an Ubuntu machine), I am given errors with this line:

sarray = "This is a string!";

what is the problem? The error message states:

incompatible types when assigning to type ‘char[17]’ from type ‘char *’

how do I resolve this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[xwb]

To assign strings, use strcpy

strcpy (sarray, "This is a string");

 

[ArkM]

Thanks Ritchie, arrays in C are very amusing objects. On the one hand an array is a simple collection of contiguous elements numbered from 0 to array size - 1. On the other hand an array name implicitly converted to the pointer to the first array element in all contexts (except argument of sizeof and unary & operators). Yet another thing: it's impossible to modify this pointer value.

The type of text literals is a pointer to char allocated in constant memory (never try to modify this memory via this pointer).

So in expression (assignment) statement

sarray = "This is a string";

you are trying to assign a pointer value (right side: const char* type) to the non-modifiable pointer value (left side: array name is converted to a pointer).

Reread the C language Bible. Try to understand C arrays once and for all.

It's interesting that you can modify your code snippet:

char sarray[17] = "This is a string";

It's OK, but it's not assignment: it's a special form of array initialization (see K&R again).

Good luck!

 

[SamBones]

You also have a problem with your "[tt]while[/tt]" loop. Your test isn't quite right, and you never increment "[tt]i[/tt]", so it's an infinite loop. Also your "[tt]printf[/tt]" isn't right so you will just be printing "[tt]sarraysarraysarray...[/tt]" forever.

I won't suggest code to you since you're learning. It's good exercise to learn how to fix these things yourself.