What character indicates the end of a string in C?

What character indicates the end of a string in C?

• A. Whitespaces
• B. Period
• C. Null character
• D. Space character

Answer: (C)

In C programming, strings are represented as an array of characters, and they must be terminated to indicate where the string ends. The character that signifies the end of a string is the null character, denoted as '\0'. When a string is defined, the null character is critical because it allows functions that manipulate strings to know where the string data finishes. Without this null termination, these functions would continue reading memory until they randomly encounter a null character, potentially causing undefined behavior or crashes. For instance, if a string is declared as `char myString[] = "Hello";`, the memory representation will actually include the characters 'H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', and then the null character '\0' to indicate the end. The other options do not serve this purpose. Whitespaces and space characters are used for separating words but do not signify the end of a string. A period is simply a character like any other and does not indicate termination in C strings. Thus, the null character is the correct answer as it plays a fundamental role in string management throughout C programming.

In C programming, strings are represented as an array of characters, and they must be terminated to indicate where the string ends. The character that signifies the end of a string is the null character, denoted as '\0'.

When a string is defined, the null character is critical because it allows functions that manipulate strings to know where the string data finishes. Without this null termination, these functions would continue reading memory until they randomly encounter a null character, potentially causing undefined behavior or crashes.

For instance, if a string is declared as char myString[] = "Hello";, the memory representation will actually include the characters 'H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', and then the null character '\0' to indicate the end.

The other options do not serve this purpose. Whitespaces and space characters are used for separating words but do not signify the end of a string. A period is simply a character like any other and does not indicate termination in C strings. Thus, the null character is the correct answer as it plays a fundamental role in string management throughout C programming.