Assign pointer value

Question

Why do I get exception in the code?

char* first = "first";
char* second = "second";
*first = *second;

Shouldn't it just assign values? Error message says: access violation

Answer 1

No because they are string literals and are read only

char *first = "first";
char *second = "second";

you can try with arrays instead.

char first[] = "first";
char second[] = "second";

to prevent this kind of error you can do this

const char *first = "first";
const char *second = "second";

when declaring string literals, it will not prevent the problem completely because you still can cast away the const but you should do so conciously.