I am trying to create a table in c++ but the lines separating the columns don't line up

Question

In c++ I am working on a code that creates a table in a .txt file for organization of money and I am having an issue where the lines separating the columns don't match up if you don't put exactly exactly 10 numbers/letters into the box. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Here is a screenshot of what the issue

Here is my code:

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    ofstream outputFile;
    double monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday;
    int columns;
    string categories;
    outputFile.open("organize.txt");
    cout << "How many columns do you need in your table? ";
    cin >> columns;
        outputFile << "| Categories |   Monday   |  Tuesday  |  Wednesday  |  Thursday  |   Friday   |\n";
        outputFile << "|------------|------------|-----------|-------------|------------|------------|\n";  
    for (int count = 1; count <= columns; count++)
    {
        cout << "Enter category (no more than "
        << count << ": ";
        cin >> categories;
        outputFile <<"| " << categories;
    }
    outputFile.close();
    return 0;
}

Basically I need to be able to stop the user from entering more than 10 letters/numbers while providing empty space to fill the area if they used less than 10 characters.

[std::setw](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/io/manip/setw) — David C. Rankin, Sep 29 '19 at 07:33
[How can I easily format my data table in c?](https://stackoverflow.com/a/14796892/11450390) — SacrificerXY, Sep 29 '19 at 07:36
@SacrificerXY What this does is just add a space before whatever the user entered. I am trying to make it so that the user cant use more than 10 numbers and the lines for the columns always match up. — Ethan K-B, Sep 29 '19 at 08:10
@DavidC.Rankin I updated the question so it might help more. — Ethan K-B, Sep 29 '19 at 08:13

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '19 at 09:25

Though it is not entirely clear how you intend to fill the Monday - Friday columns, with your "Categories" columns being the first, you can use std::setw() to ensure that column is filled properly. Looking at the "Categories" column with a maximum of 10-characters, with 2-spaces (one on each side) and 2-| (one on each side) you have a total width for those of 14-characters.

Since categories is std::string, after taking input from the user, you find the number of characters input with categories.size(). So to read a category from the user, output the category (after "| ") and then compute the number of characters needed to fill the remainder of the field (saving room for the last '|') you could use:

std::setw(14-categories.size()-1)

Putting your example together to fill the first Categories column with the user input you could do:

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>

int main (void) {

    std::ofstream outputFile;
    // double monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday;
    int columns = 0;
    std::string categories;
    outputFile.open("organize.txt");
    std::cout << "How many columns do you need in your table? ";
    if (!(std::cin >> columns)) {
        std::cerr << "stream error on input.\n";
        return 1;
    }
    outputFile << "| Categories |   Monday   |  Tuesday  |  Wednesday  "
                    "|  Thursday  |   Friday   |\n";
        outputFile << "|------------|------------|-----------|-------------"
                        "|------------|------------|\n";  
    for (int count = 0; count < columns; count++)
    {
        std::cout << "Enter category (" << count+1 << "/" << columns << "): ";
        std::cin >> categories;
        outputFile << "| " << categories << std::setw(14-categories.size()-1)
                    << "|\n";
    }
    outputFile.close();
    return 0;
}

Example Use/Output

$ ./bin/cout_columns
How many columns do you need in your table? 7
Enter category (1/7): nuts
Enter category (2/7): bolts
Enter category (3/7): screws
Enter category (4/7): nails
Enter category (5/7): staples
Enter category (6/7): pliars
Enter category (7/7): hammer

Output File

$ cat organize.txt
| Categories |   Monday   |  Tuesday  |  Wednesday  |  Thursday  |   Friday   |
|------------|------------|-----------|-------------|------------|------------|
| nuts       |
| bolts      |
| screws     |
| nails      |
| staples    |
| pliars     |
| hammer     |

That in-a-nut-shell is the way you will work down the rest of the columns to size and fill each. The challenge being you will have to have a full-weeks data for each of the categories before you start writing to the file because there isn't a way to back up and fill them in later.

Look things over and let me know if this is what you were after or if you have any questions.

the problem is that If the user can go past 10 and I want to prevent that. Other than that it works very well. — Ethan K-B, Oct 05 '19 at 18:45

I am trying to create a table in c++ but the lines separating the columns don't line up

1 Answers1