AVR-Chat

I'm trying to send a character array to an LCD display and am having problems. An individual character works but the array does not.

Here is what I have tried out trying to find the problem.

Given the following C++ and C code on a Ubuntu computer using the GNU C++ and AVR GCC compilers.

// a.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
  char str[] = "Linux";
  char a;
  
  for(int i = 0; i < strlen(str); i++) {
    a = str[i];
    cout << "Character " << i << ", at str[" << i << "] is, " << a << "\n";
    }
	cout << "Length of the char array \'str\' containing, \"" << str << "\", is "<< strlen(str) << " plus a null terminator.\n";	
	return 0;
}

The above prints correctly on the monitor, at least what I expect it to print on the screen.

The following lights the LEDs on a STK500 indicating an ASCII 'a'.

// atest.c

#define F_CPU 4000000

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <string.h>

int main (void)
{
  DDRB = 0xff;
  PORTB = 'a';     // LEDs light indicate an 'a' was sent
}

The following light no LEDs on the stk500 indicating 0xFF was sent.

// atest.c

#define F_CPU 4000000

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <string.h>

int main (void)
{
  char str[] = "ab";
  DDRB = 0xff;
  PORTB = str[0];    // All LED's are off indicating 0xFF was sent
}

It seems to me that the GNU 'C'  software is messed up. That I find hard to believe. It is most likely me doing something wrong. Try a as I may, I have not been able to figure it out. Can someone tell me the errors of my ways?

Thanks,
Mike Bronosky