Can static variables be initialized multiple times?

Question

I have read that static variables in c/c++ only initialised once.

But when i tried to experiment with it. I found that they can be initialised multiple times

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

void demo(int value) 
{ 
    // static variable 
    static int count = 0; 
    count = value; 
    cout << count << " "; 



} 

int main() 
{ 
    for (int i=0; i<5; i++)  
        demo(i+1); 
    return 0; 
} 

In above code my initialised static variable count multiple times.

output is above code is : 1 2 3 4

is I am missing anything here?

Answer 1

count = value; is not initialization, it's assignment. Static variables can be assigned as many times as you wish.

static int count = 0; is initialization and that happens only once, no matter how many times you call demo.