What is Array?

An array is the collection of multiple items of the same type stored contiguous memory locations. The position of each element can be calculated by adding an offset to the base value, i.e., the memory location of the first element of the array.

Syntax:

datatype var_name[size_of_array] = {elements};

Example:

#include 
using namespace std;
int main()
{
	int i, j;

	// Declaring array
	int a[5];

	// Insert elements in array
	for (i = 0; i < 5; i++)
	{
		a[i] = i + 1;
	}

	// Print elements of array
	for (j = 0; j < 5; j++)
	{
		cout << a[j] << " ";
	}
	return 0;
}

Output

1 2 3 4 5 

What is Pointer?

A pointer is the symbolic representation of addresses. It stores the address of variables or memory location. Pointers enable programmers to create and manipulate dynamic data structures. 

Syntax:

datatype *var_name;

Example:

// C++ program to implement array
#include 
using namespace std;

// Driver code
int main()
{
	int a = 20;
	int* ptr;
	ptr = &a;
	cout << a << " " << ptr <<
			" " << *ptr;
	return 0;
}

Output

20 0x7ffe2ae2d4ec 20

Comparison of Array and Pointer

The pointer can be used to access the array elements, accessing the whole array using pointer arithmetic, makes the accessing faster. There are some other differences between an array and a pointer which are discussed below in the table.