How to Declare Pointer to an Array of Strings in C++?

In C++, an array of a string is used to store multiple strings in contiguous memory locations and is commonly used when working with collections of text data. In this article, we will learn how to declare a pointer to an array of strings in C++.

Pointer to Array of String in C++

If we are working with C-style strings, we can directly declare the pointer to array of strings as double pointer to and for std::string object we need to declare a pointer of std::string type.

Syntax to Declare Pointer to an Array of String in C++

char **ptr

For std::string object use the below syntax:

string* pointerToArray;

C++ Program to Declare a Pointer to an Array of Strings

The following program illustrates how to declare a pointer to an array of strings in C++

C++

// C++ Program to illustrate how to declare pointer to
// strings
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{

    // for C-style string
    const char* arr1[]
        = { "String1", "String2", "String3", "String4" };
    // or

    // for C++ style stings
    string arr2[4] = { "Str1", "Str2", "Str3", "Str4" };

    // Declare a pointer to an array of strings arr2
    string* ptr_to_arr = arr2;

    // Accessing and printing elements of the array using
    // the pointer
    cout << "Array Elements: " << endl;
    for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) {
        cout << *(ptr_to_arr + i) << " ";
    }
    return 0;
}

Output

Array Elements: 
Str1 Str2 Str3 Str4 

Time Complexity: O(1)
Auxiliary Space: O(1)