Integer + String in C++

Question

If I write
cout<<1 + "hello"
in C++,
The output is "ello".

Why does this happen? Shouldn't it show an error as integers and strings can't be added?

Answer 1

"hello" is not really a string in C++, it's a const char*.
( Well, actually it's a const char (&) [6] for correctness, but let's ignore that for now )

In other words, it's just a pointer to somewhere in memory.
What you are really doing is adding 1 to that pointer.
"hello\0"
^
Adding 1 to the pointer would make it point to the next character:
"hello\0"
^
(hopefully it formats correctly, but it's pointing to the 'e' in case it doesn't, 'h' in the previous one)

If you used an actual std::string object instead of the C style string, then this wouldn't be allowed.