>>test director >when you say, p points to a constant area to which a write fails(takes an exception) is not a valid "C" statement (I do that all the time). Where did I say that ? >Can the letters be changed, yeah sure, any time. Can you ? Will appreciate if you write a sample program, you OS (with version) and your compiler (With version). >Your second example is redundant; the first is good enough. Ya I will accept that it was indeed redundant if you can write a program that changes the letters in a string constant.