I am unable to output a pyramid in C++ - c++

Question

I wanted to make a pyramid like this:-
____*
___*_*
__*___*
_*_____*
*********
for n=5.
the lines are not underscores but spaces.
My try:-
#include <iostream.h>
void main()
{ int i,k,l,n;
cin>>n;
for(i=1; i<=n-1; i++)
{
for(k=1; k<=i; k++)
{if((k==n+i-1)||(k==n-i+1))
cout<<"*";
else
cout<<" ";
}
cout<<"\n";
}
for(l=1; l<=2*n-1; l++)
cout<<"*";
}
But the output comes as:-
__ *
_*
Note: This is a turbo c++ program.

Answer 1

UPDATE:
With some optimization and by taking n as row count instead of base width, we have something very simple:
void drawPyramid(const int &n) {
int b=2*n-1;
for (int i=b/2; i>=0; i--) {
for (int j=0;j<b-i; j++) {
if (i==0 || j==i || j==b-i-1) {
std::cout<<"*";
} else {
std::cout<<" ";
}
}
std::cout<<std::endl;
}
}
Old:
It was quite funny to do, but it works as well. My approach is to start a counter from the maximum width that the pyramid may have at the end, then divide the problem into two distinct steps:
Go to the first edge
Go to the second edge
It sure can be optimized but it will give you the idea:
int drawPyramid(const int &baseWidth, const char &edgeChar, const char &outsideChar, const char &insideChar) {
// test if base width allows to have a single char at the top of it
if (baseWidth%2==0) {
std::cout<<"Error in 'drawPyramid(const int &baseWidth)': Pyramid base width must be an odd number for the top to match"<<std::endl;
return 0;
}
for (int i=baseWidth; i>=0; i-=2) { // the first edge is initially far, then gets closer
int j=0;
// Go to first edge
while (j<i/2) {
std::cout<<outsideChar;
j++;
}
std::cout<<edgeChar;
if (i==1) { // at the bottom of the pyramid
for (int k=0; k<baseWidth-1; k++) {
std::cout<<edgeChar;
}
} else if (i<baseWidth) { // test if there is a second edge to reach
// Go to second edge
while (j<baseWidth-i/2-2) {
std::cout<<insideChar;
j++;
}
std::cout<<edgeChar;
}
// Done with the current line
std::cout<<std::endl;
}
return 1;
}
Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

modify your loop to this and it works
for(i=1; i<=n-1; i++)
{
for(k=1; k<i + n; k++) // greater range than previously to include whole triangle
{if((k==n+i-1)||(k==n-i+1)) // == instead of --
cout<<"*";
else
cout<<" ";
}
cout<<"\n";
}
for(l=1; l<=2*n-1; l++)