In the following statement:
char *myarray[] = {"Amir"};
For pointer myarray[], how many bytes of memory has been allocated?
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`myarray[]` is not a pointer. It is actually nothing at all, because `myarray[]` is not an lvalue, it is just a declarator syntax. `myarray` is an array, `myarray[0]` is a pointer. `myarray[0]` points to the first element of a string literal. You get the size of a `thing` on **your** target system with `sizeof thing` - what does it say? – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 07:40
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1Remember to take into account that it is illegal, a compiler error, to assign a string literal (`const char []`) to a non-`const` pointer in modern C++. – user4581301 Jan 01 '19 at 07:44
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And it is valid C, hence I believe the c++ tag is erroneous... but who knows. Also, what is `Char`? – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 07:50
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@AnttiHaapala I think OP meant to say `char`, not **Char** – Kunal Puri Jan 01 '19 at 07:57
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1Then I guess that's one more thing that OP would like to clarify. – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 08:01
1 Answers
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It depends on the OS Architecture. Because it is an array of char *, It will take size equivalent to one pointer in this case.
For 32-bit addressing, it will take 4 bytes.
For 64-bit addressing, it will take 8 bytes.
Kunal Puri
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@user4581301 After posting the answer, I just figured out that it is array of `char *`, not character array. Sorry for that. – Kunal Puri Jan 01 '19 at 07:39
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1@KunalPuri size of `char` is always 1 = 1 byte. – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 07:46
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... but byte need not be 8 bits... it is nevertheless called a byte by the C standard. – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 07:51
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The classic Crays made pretty much everything 32 bits. This lead to much fun porting code. More reading at [Are there machines, where sizeof(char) != 1, or at least CHAR_BIT > 8?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2215445/are-there-machines-where-sizeofchar-1-or-at-least-char-bit-8) – user4581301 Jan 01 '19 at 07:57
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1@KunalPuri now you'll know further: *"The fundamental storage unit in the C ++ memory model is the byte. A byte is at least large enough to contain any member of the basic execution character set (5.3) and the eight-bit code units of the Unicode UTF-8 encoding form and is composed of a contiguous sequence of bits, the **number of which is implementation-defined.**"* – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 07:59
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1A C or C++ implementation may choose the number of bits in a byte but it may not change the identity byte === character type. – Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні Jan 01 '19 at 08:00