How are strings represented in C?

A C string is an array of ASCII bytes ending in a null byte (\0) that marks where it stops.

String "01234" in memory:

Key facts:

• ASCII digit N has value 0x30 + N (e.g., '5' = 0x35)
• Strings are byte-order independent (always sequential)
• Null terminator (\0) marks the end

Go deeper:

• Null-terminated string (Wikipedia) — the C string convention and its trade-offs.
• ASCII (Wikipedia) — the character-to-byte code table behind C strings.