assigning a const char array to a char array

Question

So I have a class, Mail, with a class data member, char type[30]; and static const char FIRST_CLASS[]; outside of the class definition i initialize FIRST_CLASS[] to "First Class".

In my default Mail constructor I would like to set type to FIRST_CLASS[] but cannot seem to figure out a way to do so. Here's the code (a bit stripped down so not to bother you with stuff you dont need)

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>   
#include <cstring>
#include <string>

using namespace std;
class Mail
{
public:
    Mail();
    Mail(const char* type, double perOunceCost, int weight);
    Mail(const Mail& other);

    ~Mail()
    { }

private:
    static const int TYPE_SIZE = 30;
    static const char FIRST_CLASS[];
    static const double FIXED_COST;
    static const int DEFAULT_WEIGHT = 1;

    char type[TYPE_SIZE];
    int weight;
    double perOunceCost;
};

const char Mail::FIRST_CLASS[] = "First Class";
const double Mail::FIXED_COST = 0.49;

// default
Mail::Mail()
{
    weight = DEFAULT_WEIGHT;
    perOunceCost = FIXED_COST;
    type = FIRST_CLASS;
}

and here's the errors:

1   error C2440: '=' : cannot convert from 'const char [12]' to 'char [30]'
2   IntelliSense: expression must be a modifiable lvalue

Answer 1

You can not assign one array to another. try strcpy

 strcpy(type,FIRST_CLASS);

Make sure destination is at least as large as source.

Note: If not mandatory, you should avoid array and use std::string for character array, and other STL containers (vector,map.. etc.).