Something about variables , pointers and Asterisk in declaration

Question

What happen when i write
char *str1 = "hello!";
Why does it create an array str1[] automatically?
Is *str1 a pointer? If so why does *str1 points to the first element of the array str1 ?
Is pointers of the rest of the elements created ?
https://code.sololearn.com/cJ8IQevzq99P/?ref=app

Answer 1

In C++, arrays and pointers are interchangable. The programmer is responsible for making sure you don't access beyond the allocated memory. There is a single variable str1. It can be used as either a pointer or array.