Thread: Top bit set character output

Can anyone tell me why when using C++ with Code::Blocks if I want to output a ½ character I have to use character 0171 whereas every other program I use on my computer it is character 0189.

I am guessing it is something to do with the ISO settings but I have set Code::Blocks to use ISO 8859-1 but even in the editor if I do a <alt 0189> I get 'DC2' in white text on a black background; If I output character 0189 in a program I get a c with a vertical slash through it.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum but it is programming related in that I want a particular output.

Here is the code I am using :

Code:

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    system ("Color f9");
    HANDLE hOut;

    int i;
    int x=0;
    int y=0;

    COORD Position;

    hOut=GetStdHandle (STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);

    for (i=32;i<=255; i++)
    {
        Position.X=x;
        Position.Y=y;
        SetConsoleCursorPosition(hOut,Position);
        cout.width(3);
        cout << i << "  " << (unsigned char)i << flush;

        ++y;

        if(y>28)
        {
            y=0;
            x+=10;
        }
   }

    return 0;
}

The output from that is :



Dopes that clarify what is happening here and maybe what settings to change to get the correct output I want?

Thanks Elysia but I am not sure exactly what you mean, I changed my editor in Code::Blocks to use UTF-7 but that makes no difference; I also tried using wcout instead of cout but the output then was :

171 171
172 172

etc.

I have looked at the compiler settings but there is no setting which appears to change the character encoding.

FWIW I also use BASIC for programming and compile that and it works as I want it to with the correct characters being output.

I tried running your code Elysia and the output was a lower case c with a vertical slash through it!

I don't think this subject is going to get resolved very easily, it must be the encoding that my console window is using if that code gives a half character on your machine, so maybe it needs a query to microsoft about changing that encoding.

Elysia that gives a compilation error :

no matching function for call to 'std::basic_ofstream<wchar_t>::basic_ofstream(cons t wchar_t [10])'

By doing a bit of hacking about I have foiund that if you start the console window with cmd /u rather than just cmd, the <alt>0189 gives a half character; I think the /u tells it to start in unicode rather than code 850 which is the default.

Next question then - does anybody know how to set Code::Blocks so that it starts with that setting?