Thread: Help with part of program

I have two thirds of my program working, but the last part I am having a hard time figuring out.

For the last part of the program it should output a 'plus' symbol using asterisks. The size of this is user input.

Ex:

Code:

  *  
  *  
*****
  *  
  *

Unfortunately I am somewhat lost as to how I can accomplish this.

This is my program so far, the bottom part with the "Plus" comment is where I am having difficulty.

Code:

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{

int width=0;
int shape=0;

int row_counter=0;
int col_counter=0;

   printf("Enter how wide the shape is to be: ");
   scanf("%d", &width);
   
   printf("Enter:\n");
   printf(" 1) For a filled square,\n");
   printf(" 2) For a lower triangle, or,\n");
   printf(" 3) For a plus\n");
   scanf("%d", &shape);
   
int mid= (width+1)/2;
   
  if (shape==1) //square
{
  for (row_counter=0; row_counter<width; row_counter=row_counter+1)
  {
  
    for (col_counter=0; col_counter<width; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
		printf("*");
	}
	
  printf("\n");
	
  }
    
} 
   
   
  if (shape==2) //triangle
{
  for (row_counter=1; row_counter<=width; row_counter=row_counter+1)
  {
    for (col_counter=1; col_counter<=row_counter; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
	   printf("*");
	}
	printf("\n");
  }
} 
  
  
    if (shape==3) //plus
{
  for (row_counter=0; row_counter<width; row_counter=row_counter+1)
  {
    for (col_counter=0; col_counter<mid; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
		printf(" ");
	}	
	for (col_counter=0; col_counter==mid; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
		printf("*");
	}
	
  }
  printf("\n");
} 
  
}

Any help or hints would be greatly appreciated! =)

You have a few problems. First:

Code:

for (col_counter=0; col_counter==mid; col_counter=col_counter+1)

That is the "keep going" condition. Unless mid is zero, this loop will never execute.

Second, your printf("\n"); needs to be inside your for(row_counter...) loop.

Third, you need to do two different things for the plus case. One is print some blanks followed by a single star, the other is print a row of just stars. Which one you do depends on which row you're printing, and the number of spaces or stars is related to mid. I suggest working this out on paper (perhaps graph paper to help track rows and columns) for several different widths, like 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and see what the relationship is.

Okay so I worked on it for a bit and I'm getting much closer. This is what I've changed it to.

Code:

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{

int width=0;
int shape=0;

int row_counter=0;
int col_counter=0;

   printf("Enter how wide the shape is to be: ");
   scanf("%d", &width);
   
   printf("Enter:\n");
   printf(" 1) For a filled square,\n");
   printf(" 2) For a lower triangle, or,\n");
   printf(" 3) For a plus\n");
   scanf("%d", &shape);
   
int mid= (width+1)/2;
   
  if (shape==1) //square
{
  for (row_counter=0; row_counter<width; row_counter=row_counter+1)
  {
  
    for (col_counter=0; col_counter<width; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
		printf("*");
	}
	
  printf("\n");
	
  }
    
} 
   
   
  if (shape==2) //triangle
{
  for (row_counter=1; row_counter<=width; row_counter=row_counter+1)
  {
    for (col_counter=1; col_counter<=row_counter; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
	   printf("*");
	}
	printf("\n");
  }
} 
  
  
    if (shape==3) //plus
{
  for (row_counter=0; row_counter<width; row_counter=row_counter+1)
  {
    for (col_counter=0; col_counter<=mid; col_counter=col_counter+1)
	{
	
		if (row_counter!=mid)
		{
	
			if (col_counter != mid)
			{
			printf(" ");
				}
	
			if (col_counter==mid)
			{
			printf("*");
			}
		}
		else 
		{
		printf("*");	
		}
	}
  printf("\n");
  }

} 
  
}

If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong please point it out.