Write a name in a diagonal line representation - c++

Question

I'm trying to write a program that will show a name in a diagonal line.
I know I should add a variable with space, like \t, and increment it in each loop.
I have tried to do this with no success. Any suggestions?
int main()
{
string space = "\t";
string firstName;
cout << "Enter your first name:";
cin >> firstName;
for (int posChar = 0;
posChar < firstName.length( );
posChar++)
cout << space << firstName.at(posChar) << endl;
space=space + "\t"; // this is what I've tried, it's a long shot.
return 0;
}
output:
Enter your first name:Alexander
A
l
e
x
a
n
d
e
r

Answer 1

If you would indent you code properly, you would see that space=space + "\t"; is not part of the for.
Also, you should use a space instead of a tab.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string space;
string firstName;
cout << "Enter your first name:";
cin >> firstName;
for (int posChar = 0; posChar < firstName.length( ); posChar++)
{
cout << space << firstName.at(posChar) << endl;
space = space + " ";
}
return 0;
}
You could submit some of your code (not necessarily this one) to code review. You have some bad practices when it comes to formatting and (lack of) indenting.

Answer 2

Need { } on your for loop. Without it you are not adding the tab for each character but instead add it when the loop is complete.
If you do a for loop without a block then only the command following the loop is executed.

Answer 3

Did you forget the opening and closing brackets for the code block?
The loop you wrote only does
cout << space << firstName.at(posChar) << endl;
and after it has finished it does once
space=space + "\t"; // this is what I've tried, it's a long shot.
It should look like this:
for (int posChar = 0;
posChar < firstName.length( );
posChar++)
{
cout << space << firstName.at(posChar) << endl;
space=space + "\t"; // this is what I've tried, it's a long shot.
}