Does garbage collection happen when we initialize a char array with a string literal in c?

Question

When we write the following line of code in C,

      char local_arr[] = \"I am here\";

the literal \"I am here\" gets stored in the read only

Answer 1

C does not have garbage collection, so if you forget to deallocate allocated memory with the proper deallocator, you get a memory leak.
While sometimes a conservative garbage collector like the Boehm collector is used, that causes lots of extra headaches.

Now, there are four types of memory in C:

• static memory: This is valid from start to end. It comes in flavors logically read-only (writing is Undefined Behavior) and writeable.
• thread-local memory: Similar to static memory, but distinct for each thread. This is new-fangled stuff, like all threading support.
• automatic memory: Everything on the stack. It is automatically freed by leaving the block.
• dynamic memory: What malloc, calloc, realloc and the like return on request. Do not forget to free resp. using another appropriate deallocator.

Your example uses automatic memory for local_arr and leaves the implementation free to initialize it to the provided literal whichever way is most efficient.

char local_arr[] = "I am here";

That can mean, inter alia:

• Using memcpy/strcpy and putting the literal into static memory.
• Constructing the array on the stack by pushing the parts, thus putting it into the executed instructions.
• Anything else deemed opportune.

Also of interest, C constant literals have no identity, so can share space.
Anyway, using the as-if rule, many times static (and even dynamic / automatic) variables can be optimized away.