What is the difference between a regular array, and array of pointers

I'm trying to understand the difference between these two pieces of code in C:

int array[] = { 1, 2, 3 }; // init a regular array

int *numList = {1, 2, 3}; //  init an array of pointers?

I understand that the first line initializes a regular array of integers. However, the second line seems to be initializing a pointer or an array of pointers (I'm not sure).

Could someone explain:

1. What exactly is happening in the second line of code?

2. Why doesn't the second line compile as expected (or does it)?

3. When would we want to use a pointer initialization like this (if at all), compared to a regular array?

I'm trying to understand if there are specific scenarios where using the second approach would be preferable over the first.

You're conflating some concepts. As @ikegami noted, your second line:

int *numList = {1, 2, 3};

Gets treated as:

int *numList = 1;

Which not an array, nor a valid pointer. If you want to create an array of pointers, you use the same syntax as normal arrays, with the type being a pointer:

int* numList[] = {
    &array[0],
    &array[1],
    &array[2]
};

Will create an array of 3 int pointers, pointing to your original array's elements.