In C what is the difference between a normal array and an array created with malloc? [duplicate]

Question

This question already has answers here:

Difference between static memory allocation and dynamic memory allocation (7 answers)

Closed 9 years ago.

Let's say I declare an array by doing this:

int array[] = {1, 2, 3, 4};

By what I understand, you can also create the same array using pointers and malloc:

int* array = malloc(sizeof(int) * 4);  
*(array) = 1;
*(array + 1) = 2;
*(array + 2) = 3;
*(array + 3) = 4;

What is the difference between the two ways? Is one necessarily better than the other?

Answer 1

The first one resides in the current function's call stack. The second one resides in the heap.

The first one goes out of scope when the function returns, the second persists until free() is called on the address.

More differences, but I defer to the duplicate found by lethal-guitar instead of adding to my answer.