Array of Pointers to Strings in C

In C, arrays are data structures that store data in contiguous memory locations. Pointers are variables that store the address of data variables. We can use an array of pointers to store the addresses of multiple elements. In this article, we will learn how to create an array of pointers to strings in C.

Array of Pointers to Strings in C

An array of pointers to strings is a data structure where each element is a pointer that points to a string. It is a very effective technique when we want to point at different memory locations of the same data type like a string.

Syntax to Create an Array of Pointers to Strings in C

To create an array of pointers to strings in C we can use the following syntax:

char * arr[size] ={ "String1", "String2", ....}

Here,

• char*: is the type of pointers we will store in the array.
• arr: is the name of the array of pointers.
• size: is the size of the array of pointers.

Each array element will act as a pointer to the first character of an individual string.

Note: Storing the strings in this array is more efficient than storing multiple strings in a 2D Array of characters as explained here.

C Program to Create an Array of Pointers to Strings

The following program illustrates how we can create an array of pointers to strings in C.

C

// C Program to Create an Array of Pointers to Strings

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    // Initialize an array of pointers to strings
    char* arr[4]
        = { "C++", "Java", "Python", "JavaScript" };
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
    // Print the strings using the pointers
    printf("Array Elements:\n");
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        printf("%s\n", arr[i]);
    }
    return 0;
}

Output

Array Elements:
C++
Java
Python
JavaScript

Time Complexity: O(N) where N is the number of strings.
Auxiliary Space: O(N * M), where M is the average length of the strings.