char* pointer = new char [5];
strcpy_s(pointer,4, "foo");

I am not fully understanding how pointers work. In my understanding the variable pointer is supposed to store the starting address of the new allocated string of chars. If so why is it important that the pointer is a char since its only storing an address.

why can't i just type

void* pointer = new char [5]

Thanks.

CodePudding user response：

the pointer needs to know the size of its element, thanks to it you can use [] operator to reach a certain element of the array, how else would it know how much memory it has to move to get to the n-th element? If you could declare a pointer to any type as void, then it would have to automatically deduce the type it points to. Consider this piece of code:

char* pointer = new char[5];
pointer[3] = 'a'; 

for void* this would not be possible. I suppose that the strcpy_s function expects the first parameter as char*, not void* and that is the reason why your code doesn't compile. Pointer itself just allows you to know where some variable/array or even function is in memory, but when you specify pointer's type it gives it more flexibility.