Arduino Char Array vs String Explanation

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Manipulate sequences of characters

In Arduino, character arrays and strings are both used to store and manipulate sequences of characters. However, there are some key differences between these two data types that can be important to consider when choosing which one to use in your program. In this article, we will explore the differences between Arduino char array vs string, and look at some of the pros and cons of each data type.

We will also examine some of the functions and methods available for working with character arrays and strings in Arduino, and provide some tips on when it might be best to use one data type over the other.


What is Char Array?

In Arduino, a character array is a sequence of characters that is stored in an array. A character array is terminated by a null character, which is a character with a value of 0. Here’s an example of how you might declare a character array in Arduino: 

char greeting[] = "Hello, world!";

What is String?

A string, on the other hand, is an object of the String class, which is a part of the Arduino core library. The String class provides a set of functions for manipulating strings. Here’s an example of how you might declare a string in Arduino: 

String greeting = "Hello, world!";

What is the difference?

One of the main differences between character arrays and strings is that strings are mutable, which means that you can modify the characters in a string after it has been created. With a character array, you cannot change the characters once the array has been created.

Another difference is that the String class provides a range of functions for manipulating strings, such as concat(), which allows you to concatenate two strings, and toInt(), which converts a string to an integer. These functions are not available for character arrays.

Conclusion

Finally, strings are more memory-efficient than character arrays, because they use a reference-counting system to store the characters. This means that if you create multiple strings that have the same value, they will share the same memory, rather than each having its own copy of the characters.

I hope this Arduino Char Array vs String Explanation article can help you in choosing the best method to use in your project.

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