Question: If we have a `char *hello` - and the string is `"hello"`

and i do 

```
char *ptr;
ptr = hello;

```

then ptr will be pointing at `'h'`, correct?

Now I have just done an assignmnet in this and completed it using the following terms

if i wanted to move the pointer to the next chatachter i would just do `ptr++`. If i wanted to use the value of the pointer for some check, i would use `if(*ptr == '\0')...`

When i was doing the assignmnets our teacher gave us some pre built methods, and they used stuff like 

```
*string++ = *s++;

```

ok, so why would we want to do `*string` (which gets a value) - and combine it with `++`

I hope i make sense in explaining what is not clear. Its just I managed to do the whole assignment with ptr++ to move to next element or \*ptr to check its value

Answer: 
Not quite. In your original question, `ptr` would be set to point to the same first character as `hello`, which may *not necessarily* be `h`. You may have done:

```
char *hello = "goodbye";

```

in which case both `hello` and `ptr` will point to that `g`. However your edit now makes it clear that you meant:

```
char *hello = "hello";

```

Your comment on `ptr++` is correct. It will move `ptr` so that it points to the next character and, as per C string handling convention, `'\0'` marks the end of the string.

The statement:

```
*string++ = *s++;

```

is something you often see in string copying code (copying `s` to `string`), something like:

```
char *mystrcpy (char *d, char *s) {
    char *d2 = d;
    while (*s != '\0')
        *d2++ = *s++;
    *d2 = '\0';
    return d;
}

```

In this case, the line `*d2++ = *s++;` means:

* copy the character at `s` to the memory location `d2`.
* increment `d2` to point to the next destination character.
* increment `s` to point to the next source character.

In other words,

```
*string++ = *s++;

```

is functionally identical to:

```
*string = *s;
string++;
s++;

```
Just a quick addition to Mark Byers' answer, who correctly points out the postfix increment ("a++") as opposed to the prefix increment ("++a").

You probably want to have a look at the [C operator precedence](http://isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/c/c-precedence.html) for the order in which operators are handled in an expression.

You can always force the precedence you want by using parentheses: (a + b) \* c != a + b \* c.