Because the size of the “string” pointer is 8 bytes. Here are some examples of using sizeof() with their appropriate “size”. The term size_of() is sometimes deceiving for people not used to using it. In your case, the size of the pointer is 8 bytes.. below is a representation on a typical 32-bit system.
sizeof (char) = 1
sizeof (double) = 8
sizeof (float) = 4
sizeof (int) = 4
sizeof (long) = 4
sizeof (long long) = 8
sizeof (short) = 2
sizeof (void *) = 4
sizeof (clock_t) = 4
sizeof (pid_t) = 4
sizeof (size_t) = 4
sizeof (ssize_t) = 4
sizeof (time_t) = 4
Source
You are leaving out how you are determining your string is disappearing (char array). It is probably being passed to a function, which you need to pass the explicit length as a variable or track it somewhere. Using sizeof() won’t tell you this.
See my previous question about this and you’ll see even my lack of initial understanding.