String Literals

Why is the size 7? Because there is an additional null terminator 00: "Cherno\0"

The two . represent the position of 00

This string is stored in the const section of the binary file. Opening it with a hex editor, you can see "Cherno" in the binary file. These characters are embedded in the binary file. When we reference it, it actually points to a constant data block that is not allowed to be edited.

const char* name = "Cherno"
name[2] = 'a';

Running the program in Release mode to modify the string will not change it. However, in Debug mode, an exception will be thrown.

Wide Char

const char* name = u8"Cherno";
const wchar_t* name2 = L"Cherno";  // L indicates that the following string literal is composed of wide characters
                                   // 2 bytes

// Introduced in C++11
const char16_t* name3 = u"Cherno";   // 16 bits = 2 bytes
const char32_t* name4 = U"Cherno";   // 32 bits = 4 bytes

Difference between wchar_t and char16_t?

Although we often say that wchar is 2 bytes per character, it is actually determined by the compiler. (Windows: 2 bytes, Linux: 4 bytes). If you want it to always be 2 bytes, you can use char16_t.

R Method

Adding R before a string means ignoring escape characters, where R stands for raw.

String literals are always stored in read-only memory.