C++ - Why are strings equal, but char arrays not?

Question

Given this code:

char a[] = "abcde";
char b[] = "abcde";
string c = "abcde";
string d = "abcde";
cout << (c == d);
cout << (a == b);

It outputs that strings are equal, but char arrays aren't. Why?

Answer 1

Because std::string is a class with an overloaded == operator that compares character by character.

char[] is basically just a pointer that it compares, not the characters.