Pointer pointing to a string pointer array in C++

Question

I have a pointer array of strings:

string *names = new string[numOfNames];

That array is then populated with values from a file. I am trying to sort the names alphabetically so I am trying to assign another pointer array to the address of each individual element names is pointing to. So I want to do something like this:

string *namesPtr = new string[numOfNames];
namesPtr[0] = &names[0];

However I am getting a red squiggly on the equal sign saying

no operator "=" matches these operands, operand types are std::string = std::string*

I have a pointer array of names because numOfNames will be specified in the file I am going to open and from my understanding, a regular array won't work because I have to specify the number of elements in the array.

Answer 1

Of course there is a type mismatch.

Type of namesPtr[0] is string .
Type of &names[0] is string* .

What you need is:

string** namesPtr = new string*[numOfNames];
namesPtr[0] = &names[0];

To make the pointer assignments complete, you need:

for (int i = 0; i < numNames; ++i )
{
   namesPtr[i] = &names[i];
}

Answer 2

namesPtr[0] = &names[0];

This is incorrect. & will produce the address of the dereferenced string in names, thus you are assigning an address to a string which is illegal.