Getting one array index to point to another array index

[ThemePark]

If I have this code:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	char a[1];
	char b[4];
	a[0] = 3;
	b[0] = 1;
	b[1] = 2;
	*b[2] = a[0];
	b[3] = 4;
	a[0] = 5;
	cout << b[2] << endl;
	return (0);
}

How do I make b[2] point to a[0], so that if I change the value of a[0], the value of b[2] gets changed accordingly.

[dcs]

You'd need a pointer to be able to point.

[kmhosny]

the b[2] is always evaluated to be the value contained inside the b index of 2 not as a pointer and since b is a character array it cannot be used as a pointer.

the b is considered to be a special type of pointers but it always points to the beginning of the array and cannot point to next element.
so i dont think that's possible to do what you want.

[ThemePark]

Alright, so instead I need to make an array of 4 pointers. And I want to be able to set the value of the memory group for each pointer. So I do this:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	char a[1];
	char *b[4];
	a[0] = 3;
	*b[0] = 1;
	*b[1] = 2;
	*b[2] = &a[0];
	*b[3] = 4;
	a[0] = 5;
	cout << a[0] << endl;
	cout << b[0] << endl;
	cout << b[1] << endl;
	cout << b[2] << endl;
	cout << b[3] << endl;
	return (0);
}

I know that *b[0] works as I want it to, by assigning the allocated memory pointed to by *b[0] the value 1. And *b[2] = &a[0] should assign the address of a[0] to the pointer *b[2]. But I get the error "cannot convert from 'char *' to 'char'". So what do I need to change here?

[kmhosny]

try it without the *
so it would be b[2]=&a[0]

as the *with a pointers is used to access the value that the pointer points at, but without * let you reassign an address to the pointer variable.

[ThemePark]

Right, that compiles, but I get a warning for *b[0] = 1; saying "uninitialized local variable 'b' used". So how do I initialize it?

[dcs]

You kinda need to decide what you want b to be. Is it going to be an array of pointers, or an array of chars? It can't be both simultaneously.

[ThemePark]

Well, obviously I want it to be an array of pointers that point to variables of type char like with *b[0] = 1;

Edit:
Nevermind, I neglected the fact that *b[0] = 1 means that at the address that b[0] points to, the value is set to 1. So it makes sense now that b[0] has to be initialized to point to an address first, and that's why I'm getting the error.

Thank you for all the help, I think I've got it now.