What is the difference between delete and delete[ ]?
The difference is big, and very important to understand. Whenever you create an object in C++ using the new keyword you will have to delete it. Whether you use “delete” or “delete[ ]” really depends on what kind of object you are creating. This is best illustrated by an example:
void foo ( )
{
string *sp = new string[50];
string *s = new string;
delete s;
// have to use "[ ]" since sp points to an array of strings:
delete[ ] sp;
}
Note that we had to use the “[ ]” when deleting the memory that “sp” points to, because the sp pointer points to an array of strings. So, in order to properly remove memory created with a “[ ]”, we have to use the “delete [ ] “.
What happens if you use delete when you should use delete[ ] instead?
This could create a memory leak since using “delete” when “delete[ ]” is required will not properly delete all of the memory in the array.