How does this code work

Question

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
int a[] = {10, 20, 30};

printf("%d", *a +1);
}

// The output is 11 but I don't get what *a is for. Why is *a 10?

Answer 1

The array variable  a  when used alone, it means the memory address (i.e. pointer) of the start of the array.

It is interpreted to be a pointer to the first element of the array, and hence it is an int pointer.

*a  means dereferencing the pointer, to get the value of the int at the memory address specified by a.

So,  *a  is just the value of the first element of the array a.   i.e. a[0]

So  *a + 1  is the same as  a[0] + 1