Why is it possible to assign a const char* to a char*?

Question

I know that for example \"hello\" is of type const char*. So my questions are:

1. How can we assign a literal string like \"hel

Answer 1

The answer to your second question is that the variable s is stored in RAM as type pointer-to-char. If it's global or static, it's allocated on the heap and remains there for the life of the running program. If it's a local ("auto") variable, it's allocated on the stack and remains there until the current function returns. In either case, it occupies the amount of memory required to hold a pointer.

The string "Hello" is a constant, and it's stored as part of the program itself, along with all the other constants and initializers. If you built your program to run on an appliance, the string would be stored in ROM.

Note that, because the string is constant and s is a pointer, no copying is necessary. The pointer s simply points to wherever the string is stored.