C++ How can I center text output

Question

I have googled and searched for a solution.

But nothing has worked for me so far.

If you know a function that will calculate white space and center text output for C++, I would appreciate it if you shared it.

sources:

C++ alignment when printing cout <<

http://www.worldbestlearningcenter.com/tips/text-alignment-in-Cplusplus.htm

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21731990/Horizontally-center-align-text-in-C-console-application.html

These are the links that I googled: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21731990/Horizontally-center-align-text-in-C-console-application.html, — Manual, Aug 09 '17 at 05:11
you can add `\t` to your output, by hit and trial method, where you find your text to centered aligned just leave it there. and if you know number of columns of your console, just use _loop_ from `i = 0` to `no_of_column_of_console / 2` — Sahib Yar, Aug 09 '17 at 05:16
You can't. At least not without getting the width of the console that you are trying to print within. More details here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23369503/get-size-of-terminal-window-rows-columns — selbie, Aug 09 '17 at 05:16
@Manual `for (int i=0; i< linLength/2; i++) { std::cout<<"\t"; } std::cout<<"text"< — Sahib Yar, Aug 09 '17 at 05:23
@Manual it will not exact the `no_of_column_of_console / 2` because your `text` also has some length. — Sahib Yar, Aug 09 '17 at 05:24
@SahibYar Thank you! I have played with the length and got the result I wanted! — Manual, Aug 09 '17 at 05:28

DownloadableFox · Answer 1 · 2021-04-01T17:56:33.370

I know this thread is old, but today I found myself with this problem and didn't really find any complete solution in the internet. So I made one myself, for any of the future people who are having the same issue.

The code I used is a simple function...

void CoutCentered(std::string text) {
// This function will only center the text if it is less than the length of the console!
// Otherwise it will just display it on the console without centering it.

HANDLE hConsole = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE); // Get the console handle.
PCONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO lpScreenInfo = new CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO(); // Create a pointer to the Screen Info pointing to a temporal screen info.
GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hConsole, lpScreenInfo); // Saves the console screen info into the lpScreenInfo pointer.
COORD NewSBSize = lpScreenInfo->dwSize; // Gets the size of the screen
if (NewSBSize.X > text.size()) {
    int newpos = ((NewSBSize.X - text.size()) / 2); // Calculate the number of spaces to center the specific text.
    for (int i = 0; i < newpos; i++) std::cout << " "; // Prints the spaces
}
std::cout << text << std::endl; // Prints the text centered :]
}

If you're going to use this, remember to use #include <windows.h>. I've tested this on Visual Studio 2019 C++17 as a 32 bit dll, but it should work with a normal command line application.

Unfortunately, your code is going to fail miserably, if the line to be printed to the console is longer than the console window is wide: As `text.size()` is an unsigned number, the negative result of `NewSBSize.X - text.size()` will overflow to a huge positive number instead! So please add an `if` condition, that will print extra spaces only, if the line to be output actually fits into the console width. — Kai Petzke, Apr 01 '21 at 03:33
Didn't think about that... You're right. Thanks for letting me know. — DownloadableFox, Apr 01 '21 at 17:44
Ok, I've just edited the code. It should be fixed now. Thanks again for letting me know, I've been using the code a lot. — DownloadableFox, Apr 01 '21 at 17:57

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 09 '17 at 05:31

0

GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo then SetConsoleCursorPosition

edited Aug 09 '17 at 05:31

Sahib Yar

1,030
11
29

answered Aug 09 '17 at 05:23

Minor Threat

2,025
1
18
32

1

Thank you! That will come in handy when I am coding win32 app, – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 05:32
I am using a empty file – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 05:33
This is not a typical usecase for a console though. – Minor Threat Aug 09 '17 at 05:33
My windows C++ is trash.So I include window.h use Win main, paste the code with in the main. What would I do then? – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 05:41
You don't need WinMain. Just get the console handle with GetStdHandle() – Minor Threat Aug 09 '17 at 05:46
`#include #include using namespace std; int main() { GetStdHandle(); return 0; }` – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 05:55
Is adding code to a comment supposed to look like that? – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 05:56
So far I have the function and it needs some arguments, could you tell me, what I should add, please? – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 05:59
I have gotten output but, I do not understand what to do with it – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 06:10
I favorited the links I will review them Thank you for helping! – Manual Aug 09 '17 at 06:11

C++ How can I center text output

2 Answers2