Are strings local?

[Duke Robillard]

I've got a question about string constants.  According to the first
edition of K&R, stuff of the form "this is a string" is static (page 181).
This means they are "local to a block" (definition of static--page 182).
Okay, so does this mean that you can't do this:

	char *some_function()
	{
	  char *ptr;
	  ptr= "string";
	  return(ptr);
	}

It seems to me that "string" would only be defined inside some_function.
Is that right, or am I missing something subtle?

What about this:

	char *some_function()
	{
	  char *ptr;
	  ptr= "string";
	  another_function(ptr);
	}

Again, since another_function is not in the same block and "string" is
"local to a block" this would seem illegal.  But then so would:

	char *some_function()
	{
	  another_function("string");
	}

right?  And we know that's okay, cause printf does it.  What's the
story?



P.S. If this is dumb, please just ignore me, rather than flaming.  

Thanks in advance.
-- 
+------
|       Duke Robillard           
|       AT&T Bell Labs           {backbone!}att!m10ux!rgr
|       Murray Hill, NJ          rgr at m10ux.ATT.COM