Use of Pointers for string handling in C++ - c++

Question

I am learning the basics of C++. The code is working fine as I wanted, but what I want to know is in case 2 where the function is to swap the strings, what is basically going on? Is the string at array[pos1 -1] being copied to temp and then swapped or just the addresses of the strings to be swapped are being reallocated?
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
const char *array[] {"Albert",
"Newton",
"Gallilio",
"Hawking"};
cout << "What do you want to do:\n1-Display Strings\n2-Swap Positions" << endl;
unsigned short int choice{};
cin >> choice;
switch (choice)
{
case 1:
{
for (short int i = 0; i < _countof(array); i++)
{
cout << "\n" << array[i];
}
cout << endl;
break;
}
case 2:
{
short int pos1{}, pos2{};
const char *temp{ nullptr };
cout << "Whom do you want to swap? Enter two numbers when prompted: " << endl;
cout << "Swap --- "; cin >> pos1;
cout << "With --- "; cin >> pos2;
temp = array[pos1 - 1];
array[pos1 - 1] = array[pos2 - 1];
array[pos2 - 1] = temp;
cout << "\nChanged Order is";
for (short int i{} ; i < _countof(array); i++)
{
cout << "\n" << array[i];
}
cout << endl;
break;
}
default:
cout << "\a";
}
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Let's assume pos1 is 1 and pos2 is 2.
Then array[pos1-1] holds a pointer to a character A that is interpreted as a string of characters Albert\0 terminated by a null. Likewise array[pos2-1] holds a pointer to the string Newton\0.
When case 2 is hit, temp is initialized to hold a null pointer. Then temp is assigned to hold a copy of the pointer to Albert\0. Then array[pos1-1] is reassigned to hold a pointer to Newton\0. We then want array[pos2-1] to point to Albert\0, but the pointer value in array[pos1-1] doens't point there anymore. That's where the copy in temp comes in, because it is still a pointer to Albert\0, so this pointer is copied to array[pos2-1].