String formatting (c++) - c++

Question

I tried to format output strings in my console application (like a table)
cout << "\n\n-----------------\n";
cout << setw(8) << left << "F\t|";
cout << setw(8) << left << "x\t|";
cout << "\n-----------------\n";
//...
cout.width(8);
cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << fixed << setprecision(3) << F << "\t|";
cout.width(8);
cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << x << "\t|";
cout << "\n-----------------\n\n";
But as result my output looks like this
What's wrong with my upper string formatting?

Answer 1

I used the same code as you did and got the same output until I removed the \t at the end of the line. See the new code:
cout << "\n\n-----------------\n";
cout << setw(8) << left << "F\t|";
cout << setw(8) << left << "x\t|";
cout << "\n-----------------\n";
//...
cout.width(8);
cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << fixed << setprecision(3) << F << "|";
cout.width(8);
cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << x << "|";
cout << "\n-----------------\n\n";

Answer 2

As already noted, it's the tabs that are causing the problem.
I would not stop at just removing the tabs though. As it stands right now, your code is highly repetitive and next to impossible to maintain. I'd do a (nearly) complete rewrite, with a couple of functions to cut down on the repetition. My first cut would probably look something like this:
// format a value in a field of specified width, followed by a separator
template <class T>
string field(T val, int w, char sep = '|') {
stringstream b;
b << setw(w) << left << fixed << setprecision(3) << val << sep;
return b.str();
}
// generate a separator for a specified number of fields,
// each of a specified width
string sep(int c, int w, char val = '-') {
string s(c * (w + 1), val);
return string("\n") + s + "\n";
}
int main() {
static const int w = 8;
double F = 1.234, x = 3.45;
string s = sep(2, w);
cout << "\n" << s;
cout << field("F", w) << field("x", w) << s;
cout << field(F, w) << field(x, w) << s;
}
Seems to me that this makes the code rather more readable and quite a bit more maintainable. For example, if we decided to display an a and b on the next line, it would seem fairly obvious to add something like:
cout << field(a, w) << field(b, w) << s;
...and we wouldn't have to look very hard to be pretty sure it was going to match up with the previous line. Likewise, if we wanted to change a column width, etc.

Answer 3

You may try:
cout << "\n\n-----------------\n";
cout << setw(8) << left << "F\t\t|"; // insert more tab here
cout << setw(8) << left << "x\t|";
cout << "\n-----------------\n";
//...
cout.width(8);
cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << fixed << setprecision(3) << F << "\t|";
cout.width(8);
cout.setf(ios::left);
cout << x << "\t|";
cout << "\n-----------------\n\n";

Answer 4

The console screen looks suspiciously Windows like.
If you are using Windows, you can use the Win32 API to format output more precisely.
In particular, you can use SetConsoleCursorPosition.
COORD position = {x,y};
HANDLE hOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
SetConsoleCursorPosition(hOut, position);
std::cout<<"This will be printed starting at position x, y"<<std::endl;

Answer 5

Try this:
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <map>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
map< float, float > table =
{
{ 8232.0f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.1f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.2f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.3f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.4f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.5f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.6f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.7f, 89.0f },
{ 8232.8f, 89.0f },
};
const size_t CELL_WIDTH = 25;
const string CELL_LINE( CELL_WIDTH, '=' );
// print the header of table
cout << '|' << CELL_LINE << '|' << CELL_LINE << '|' << endl
<< '|'
<< left << setw( CELL_WIDTH ) << "F" << '|'
<< setw( CELL_WIDTH ) << "R" << "|\n|"
<< CELL_LINE << '|' << CELL_LINE << '|' << endl;
// print the body
// change cout precision
cout << fixed << setprecision( 3 );
for ( auto it : table )
cout << "| " << setw( CELL_WIDTH - 1 ) << it.first
<< "| " << setw( CELL_WIDTH - 1 ) << it.second
<< "|\n";
// print the footer
cout << '|' << CELL_LINE << '|' << CELL_LINE << '|' << endl;
return 0;
}
this is the result: