Difference Between string and char[] Types in C++

In C++, we can store the sequence of characters i.e. string in two ways: either as a std::string object or char array. In this article, we will discuss some major differences between string and char[] in C++.

Character Array Type Strings

A character array is simply an array in C++ that contains characters that are terminated by a null character. Here, characters present in the character array can be accessed by the index of the array. These types of strings are inherited from the C language

Syntax

char str[14] = "GeeksforGeeks"

Example

// C++ Program to show the use of character array type strings
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    // Character array
    char str[14] = "GeeksforGeeks";

    // Print each character in the array
    for (int i = 0; i < 13; i++) {
        cout << str[i];
    }

    return 0;
}

GeeksforGeeks

std::string in C++

The std::string is a class that is used to represent strings in C++. They are the modern counterpart of old character array type strings. They contain many different functions to help in string manipulation.

Syntax

string str("GFG is best");

Example

// C++ Program to show the use of std::string
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    // Sample string
    string str("GFG is best");

    // Print the string
    cout << str;

    return 0;
}

GFG is best

Difference between String and Char[] types in C++

The below table lists the major differences between the char[] type and std::string type strings in C++: