C simple error in coding - Error E0144 - How can i make the code working?-CodePudding

I tryed to make a program to show the output "f" after executing the code. The result was the error E0144 after trying this:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char first_ch = "f";
    printf("%c", first_ch );
    return 0;
}

and after trying this the result was 0:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    const char* first_ch = "f";
    printf("%c", first_ch );
    return 0;
}

Can you explain me why is showing this error at first and after that why in the second case the output is 0 and after all, what should i type to make the program work like i want? Thank you very much!

CodePudding user response：

In C, the char data type uses single quotes ' ' instead of double qoutes " ".

try running

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char first_ch = 'f';
    printf("%c", first_ch );
    return 0;
}

CodePudding user response：

For the first situation, try using single quotes, such as 'f'. This seems to work. I think in C, there seems to be a rule such as single-quotes for single characters, and double quotes for strings. Not sure why though.

char first_ch = 'f';

For the second situation, you're going to need the library <stdlib.h>. "const char*" is going to create an array of chars via malloc(). They are initially given the value of "0". I'm not sure, but I don't think using the keyword "const" is a good idea at initialization, it results in the default value (0) being unable to be modified (as far as I know).

I'd say, the first situation is simpler and gets the job done.