Thread: aligning text

could someone offer some help

i have used the search feature and read up on setw() and still no luck

I have some data which i am holding in a vector of structs and would like to print them in a formatted list

i can't even get this simple program to line up some strings of varying length

i have tried all sorts of combos (with and without my "" added)
I am compiling in bloodhsed

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
string a("This is a test");
string b("This is only a test");
string c("Line me up");

cout << "" << setw(20) << a;
cout << "" << setw(11)<< c << endl;

cout << setw(20) << b;
cout << "" << setw(11) << c << endl;

      system("PAUSE");
      return 0;
}

output:

Code:

This is a test                    Line me up
This is only a test                    Line me up

can someone please tell me what i am doing wrong so i can align text with strings of varying length

thanks

I cut and paste your suggestion and the output was still wrong

I also tried using cout.setf(ios::left)

in which case it is my understanding using your example
with "hello" setw(10) the output should be:
hello_____(next output string)

so why wouldn't

cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << setw(10) << "Hello";
cout << setw(10) << "Hello";

give the following:

Hello_____Hello_____

Okay and it does work that way.
But it doesn't work with the strings?????

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
string a("This is a test");
string b("This is only a test");
string c("Line me up");

cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << setw(10) << "Hello";
cout << setw(10) << "Hello";
cout << endl;

cout << setw(30) << a;
cout << setw(30) << b;

cout << endl;

      system("PAUSE");
      return 0;
}