Thread: How does static_cast work?

I am making a poker game. I have it halfway done, but I don't like the way it looks. As of now when someone gets a Queen of Hearts the output is QH. Now I know that the static_cast values from 3-6 contain the heart, diamon, club, spade shapes. I tried setting them up in an array but it gives me errors. How can I use the static_cast to display the shape of the card type?

I am not sure you would need to use a static_cast. I am making a blackjack game and I just use a char array declared and initialized as follows.

Code:

char suit[4]={3,4,5,6};

Then I just

Code:

cout<<suit[0]; //outputs  Heart

To do a static_cast I would guess you could do the following

Code:

char suit;
int i[4]={3,4,5,6};
suit=static_cast<char>(i[0]);// or just static_cast<char>(3);
cout<<suit;

I don't have the code on this computer. Here is what the array looks like though.

Code:

char suit[4] = {static_cast (3), static_cast(4), static_cast(5), static_cast(6}};

It gives me all types of invalid errors.

Well, manofsteel gave you the correct syntax for using static_cast.

If you need more examples of what it does, try this

Code:

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
  char suit[4] = {3,4,5,6};
  int  i[4]    = {3, 4, 5, 6};
  char isuit;
  char jsuit;

  isuit = static_cast<char>(i[0]);
  jsuit = (char)i[0];


  std::cout << "Using char array: ";
  std::cout << "suit[0] = " << suit[0] << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using char that was static_cast from int: ";
  std::cout << "isuit = " << isuit << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using c-style cast to char: ";
  std::cout << "(char)i[0] = " << (char)i[0] << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using char variable assigned with static_cast from int: ";
  std::cout << "jsuit = " << jsuit << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using \"cout << 3\": " << 3 << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using \"cout << static_cast<char>(3)\": " << 
                static_cast<char>(3) << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using char counter and static_cast to get int: " << std::endl;
  for (char ci = 3; ci <= 6; ci++) {
    std::cout << static_cast<int>(ci) << ": <" << ci << ">" << std::endl;
  }
  std::cout << std::endl << std::endl;

  std::cout << "Using int counter and static_cast to get char: " << std::endl;
  for (int ii = 3; ii <= 6; ii++) {
    std::cout << ii << ": <" << static_cast<char>(ii) << ">" << std::endl;
  }

  return 0;

}

In this case static_cast does the same thing as the old-fashioned C-style cast.

By the way, in response to Zach L and Draco: for Windows machines, many of the non-printing ansii characters give interesting symbols that may (or may not) give something fun for you to work with. The above program prints symbols for Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs on my Windows box (but not for my Linux box).


[edit]
When I said "print", I should have said "displays in a console window". Printers may or may not be able to display these characters.
[/edit]


Regards,

Dave

Code:

#include<iostream>
int main()
{
char suit[4]={3,4,5,6};
std::cout<<suit[0]<<std::endl;
std::cout<<suit[1]<<std::endl;
std::cout<<suit[2]<<std::endl;
std::cout<<suit[3]<<std::endl;
return 0;
}

You don't need to use a static cast. simply do the above code or even this:

Code:

//#include file
using std::cout; using std::endl; cout<<(char)3<<endl<<(char)4<<endl<<(char)5<<endl<<(char)6;