Can't create an array of type const char*

Question

I have something being returned as a const char* and would like to save it to an array.

I've tried this:

const char* book[amtBooks] = "";

and get this error:

error: array must be initialized with a brace-enclosed initializer

Answer 1

• const char* book[amtBooks] is an array of pointers.
• "" is an array of chars (with only a NUL character).

You can initialize an array of chars with an array of chars:

const char foo[] = "hello";

You can also initialize a pointer to char with an array of chars:

const char *bar = "good bye";

this works because of the “decay to pointer” feature of C and C++.

But initializing an array of pointers with an array of chars simply does not make sense. An array of pointers to char could be initialized as

const char *book[] = {"hello", "good bye"};