Why "&" is not used for strings in scanf() function? Last Updated : 29 Dec, 2021 Summarize Comments Improve Suggest changes Share Like Article Like Report Below is syntax of Scanf. It requires two arguments: scanf("Format Specifier", Variable Address); Format Specifier: Type of value to expect while input Variable Address: &variable returns the variable's memory address. In case of a string (character array), the variable itself points to the first element of the array in question. Thus, there is no need to use the '&' operator to pass the address. C // C program to illustrate not using "&" // in scanf statement #include<stdio.h> int main() { char name[25]; // Syntax to scan a String scanf("%s", name); // Comparing base address of String with address // of first element of array which must return // true as both must be same printf("(Is Base address = address of first element)? \n %d", (name == &name[0])); } Output: (Is Base address = address of first element)? 1 Important Points '&’ is used to get the address of the variable. C does not have a string type, String is just an array of characters and an array variable stores the address of the first index location.By default the variable itself points to the base address and therefore to access base address of string, there is no need of adding an extra ‘&’ Comment More infoAdvertise with us K kartik Improve Article Tags : C Language cpp-input-output C-String Similar Reads C Programming Language Tutorial C is a general-purpose mid-level programming language developed by Dennis M. Ritchie at Bell Laboratories in 1972. It was initially used for the development of UNIX operating system, but it later became popular for a wide range of applications. Today, C remains one of the top three most widely used 5 min read C Language Introduction C is a general-purpose procedural programming language initially developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at Bell Laboratories of AT&T Labs. It was mainly created as a system programming language to write the UNIX operating system.Main features of CWhy Learn C?C is considered mother of all programmin 6 min read Dynamic Memory Allocation in C using malloc(), calloc(), free() and realloc() In C, a variable defined in a function is stored in the stack memory. The requirement of this memory is that it needs to know the size of the data to memory at compile time (before the program runs). Also, once defined, we can neither change the size nor completely delete the memory.To resolve this, 9 min read Data Types in C Each variable in C has an associated data type. It specifies the type of data that the variable can store like integer, character, floating, double, etc.Example:C++int number;The above statement declares a variable with name number that can store integer values.C is a statically type language where 5 min read C Arrays An array in C is a fixed-size collection of similar data items stored in contiguous memory locations. It can be used to store the collection of primitive data types such as int, char, float, etc., as well as derived and user-defined data types such as pointers, structures, etc. Creating an Array in 7 min read C Pointers A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of another variable. Instead of holding a direct value, it holds the address where the value is stored in memory. It is the backbone of low-level memory manipulation in C. Accessing the pointer directly will just give us the address that is stor 9 min read C Programs To learn anything effectively, practicing and solving problems is essential. To help you master C programming, we have compiled over 100 C programming examples across various categories, including basic C programs, Fibonacci series, strings, arrays, base conversions, pattern printing, pointers, and 8 min read Operators in C In C language, operators are symbols that represent some kind of operations to be performed. They are the basic components of the C programming. In this article, we will learn about all the operators in C with examples.What is an Operator in C?A C operator can be defined as the symbol that helps us 11 min read Bitwise Operators in C In C, bitwise operators are used to perform operations directly on the binary representations of numbers. These operators work by manipulating individual bits (0s and 1s) in a number.The following 6 operators are bitwise operators (also known as bit operators as they work at the bit-level). They are 6 min read Basics of File Handling in C File handling in C is the process in which we create, open, read, write, and close operations on a file. C language provides different functions such as fopen(), fwrite(), fread(), fseek(), fprintf(), etc. to perform input, output, and many different C file operations in our program.Need of File Han 13 min read Like