C Programming - Const - Discussion

Discussion Forum : Const - Point Out Errors (Q.No. 7)
7.
Point out the error in the program.
#include<stdio.h>
#define MAX 128

int main()
{
    char mybuf[] = "India";
    char yourbuf[] = "BIX";
    char const *ptr = mybuf;
    *ptr = 'a';
    ptr = yourbuf;
    return 0;
}
Error: cannot convert ptr const value
Error: unknown pointer conversion
No error
None of above
Answer: Option
Explanation:

Step 1: char mybuf[] = "India"; The variable mybuff is declared as an array of characters and initialized with string "India".

Step 2: char yourbuf[] = "BIX"; The variable yourbuf is declared as an array of characters and initialized with string "BIX".

Step 3: char const *ptr = mybuf; Here, ptr is a constant pointer, which points at a char.

The value at which ptr it points is a constant; it will be an error to modify the pointed character; There will not be any error to modify the pointer itself.

Step 4: *ptr = 'a'; Here, we are changing the value of ptr, this will result in the error "cannot modify a const object".

Discussion:
3 comments Page 1 of 1.

Suhail said:   5 years ago
The address of the pointer cannot be changed but the value can be changed.
=> char *const ptr: This is a constant pointer to a non-constant character.

Ahmed Yasen said:   7 years ago
Here, char const *ptr : ptr is a pointer to constant char.

Anonymous said:   1 decade ago
Correction in Step 3 of the explanation that ptr is not constant pointer, it is pointer to a constant. Hence the error when we try to modify the constant value.

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