Need help understanding formatting output with printf

Hi folks,

what i'm trying to do is put in two spaces and then ask the user to enter something. this is what my code looks like so far:

Code:

---

#include <cmath>
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    double payment;
    double loan;
    double rate;
    double nPayments;
    bool valid; 
   
    printf("%50s","William's Loan Service\n"); 
    do {
        valid=true;
        printf("%4s", "\nPlease enter the loan amount.");
        scanf("%lf",&loan);
        if (loan < 100 || loan > 999999.99)
        {
            printf("\nLoan amount must be between $100.00 and $999,999.99");
                  valid=false;
        }
    }while (!valid); 
    do {
        valid=true;
        printf("\n%2sPlease enter annual interest rate.  ");
        scanf("%lf",&rate);
        if (rate < 1 || rate > 20)
        {
            printf("\nThe interest rate must be between 1 and 20");
                  valid=false;
        }
    }while (!valid);   
    do {
        valid=true;
        printf("\n%2sPlease enter the number of payments.");
        scanf("%lf",&nPayments);
        if (nPayments < 5 || nPayments > 360)
        {
            printf("\nThe number of payments must be between 5 and 360");
                  valid=false;
        }
    }while (!valid);   
    rate = rate/1200;
    payment = (rate*pow((1+rate),nPayments)/(pow((1+rate),nPayments)-1))*loan;
    printf("\n%20s %15s %10.2lf","Loan Amount","$", loan);

   
    system("pause");

---

The odd part is that if you look at the second do/while loop inside the printf printf("\n%2sPlease enter annual interest rate. "); works just fine, and as I thought it would; it puts two spaces and then displays text. In fact from this point down it works fine but if I try using it in my first do/while loop or in the very first printf it causes a fatal error (took me an hour to pinpoint that).

So instead, I tried what you see, and if I put any number from 1-50 after the % and before the s it does seemingly nothing but then if i put higher number it jumps half away across the screen.

Also, I know that the number between % and letter specifies a width but exactly how much width? In other words, is 1= to one spacebar?

Any help is much appreciated

This:

Code:

---

printf("\n%2sPlease enter annual interest rate.  ");

---

is an illegal printf statement. %s tells printf to insert the string pointed to by the pointer-to-char argument that you gave it and put it there. But you didn't supply a pointer-to-char, so the compiler is taking four bytes (probably) of your program and pretending that it is a pointer to char.

If you want spaces in your output, put them there. For instance, if you want two spaces before your text, then you should print:

Code:

---

printf("\n  Please enter annual interest rate.");

---

Thanks for the info. I have recoded my program to this

Code:

---

#include <cmath>
#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    double payment;
    double loan;
    double rate;
    double nPayments;
    double mathRate;
    bool valid; 
   
    printf("%50s","William's Loan Service\n"); 
    do {
        valid=true;
        printf("\n  Please enter the loan amount.  ");
        scanf("%lf",&loan);
        if (loan < 100 || loan > 999999.99)
        {
            printf("\n Loan amount must be between $100.00 and $999,999.99\n");
                  valid=false;
        }
    }while (!valid); 
    do {
        valid=true;
        printf("\n  Please enter annual interest rate.  ");
        scanf("%lf",&rate);
        if (rate < 1 || rate > 20)
        {
            printf("\n The interest rate must be between 1 and 20\n");
                  valid=false;
        }
    }while (!valid);   
    do {
        valid=true;
        printf("\n  Please enter the number of payments.  ");
        scanf("%lf",&nPayments);
        if (nPayments < 5 || nPayments > 360)
        {
            printf("\n The number of payments must be between 5 and 360\n");
                  valid=false;
        }
    }while (!valid);   
    mathRate = rate/1200;
    payment = (mathRate*pow((1+mathRate),nPayments)/(pow((1+mathRate),nPayments)-1))*loan;
    printf("\n        Loan Amount:                  $    %9.2lf\
          \n        Annual Interest rate:              %9.lf\
          \n        Number of Payments:                %9.lf\
          \n        Monthly Payments:            $    %9.2lf\
          \n        Amount Paid Back:            $    %9.2lf\
          \n        Interest Paid:                $    %9.2lf\
          \n", loan,rate,nPayments,payment,(payment*nPayments),((payment*nPayments)-loan));

   
    system("pause");
}

---

Asthetically my program looks just like the example. Is this the standard way to format the display? The issue is that I am new to C and I have an instructor who is, to put it nicely, very cryptic. his instructions were literally:

"• Validate all user entry. If no range is specified then the entry must be greater than 0.
• You must use the proper kind of loops for validation
• Make sure that your display is formatted correctly
Validation:
Loan amount should be between $100 and $999,999.99
Interest rate should be between 1 % and 20%
Number of payments should be between 5 and 360 months


The report should be formatted and aligned according to the above"

I am most concerned about the final printf. is that considered "proper"?

You could do it that way. If you put \n in your format string, you don't need to actually put a new line in your source code. I'm not sure what you think those \ at the end of your lines are actually doing, to be honest. (They don't do anything.) Really you just want

Code:

---

printf("\n      Loan Amount:            $    %9.2lf\n      Annual Interest Rate:          ...etc", stuff);

---

And do you really want all those spaces after the dollar sign?

Actually most people would write that as

Code:

---

printf("\n\tLoan Amount:\t\t$%9.2lf", loan);
printf("\n\tAnnual Interest Rate:\t\t%9.lf\%", interest);

---

etc.