How to create a pointer for strings using C language?

In C programming, you can create pointers to strings using arrays of pointers. An array of pointers to strings is an array where each element is a pointer that holds the base address of a string literal or character array.

Syntax

char *array_name[size] = {"string1", "string2", "string3", ...};

Here, each element array_name[i] is a pointer to the base address of the corresponding string.

Advantages

• No fixed memory size requirement − strings occupy only the necessary bytes
• No memory wastage compared to 2D character arrays
• Efficient storage for strings of varying lengths

Example 1: Basic Array of String Pointers

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    char *a[5] = {"one", "two", "three", "four", "five"};
    int i;
    
    printf("The strings are: ");
    for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        printf("%s ", a[i]);
    }
    printf("<br>");
    
    return 0;
}

The strings are: one two three four five 

Example 2: Student Names Array

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    char *students[] = {"bhanu", "ramu", "hari", "pinky"};
    int i;
    
    printf("The names of students are:<br>");
    for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
        printf("%s<br>", students[i]);
    }
    
    return 0;
}

The names of students are:
bhanu
ramu
hari
pinky

Key Points

• Each pointer in the array points to a string literal stored in read-only memory
• The array size can be omitted during initialization − compiler determines it automatically
• More memory-efficient than 2D character arrays for variable-length strings

Conclusion

Arrays of string pointers provide an efficient way to handle multiple strings in C. They save memory by avoiding fixed-size allocation and allow easy access to strings through pointer dereferencing.