Help With Character Output for Data table.

[Neil]

Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

Does anyone know how to code this?

Thanks for all your help
Neil.
..

[Barry Schwarz]

On 9 Jan 2007 17:34:01 -0800, "Neil" <ne*********@hotmail.comwrote:

>Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

Does anyone know how to code this?

The conversion specifiers support numerous "modifiers". A - can be
used to left adjust the converted value. A minimum field width can be
used to pad with blanks. A precision can be used to insure the
correct number of digits after the decimal point. Check your
references.
Remove del for email

[Joe Wright]

Neil wrote:

Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

Does anyone know how to code this?

Thanks for all your help
Neil.

The '\b' stuff really won't work for you. Think of printing a value to
some decimals within a field of some width. How big will the largest
number be? Less than 1 million? That's 999999.99 or less. That maximum
will take nine print positions to 'print'. Assume..

printf("%9.2f\n", f);

Various values of f will print ..

100000.00
10000.00
1000.00
100.00

...etc. You are not supposed to figure this out. How could you? You are
supposed to read about it in your C reference, or your man or info pages.

--
Joe Wright
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
--- Albert Einstein ---

[David T. Ashley]

"Neil" <ne*********@hotmail.comwrote in message
news:11*********************@p59g2000hsd.googlegro ups.com...

Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

You might try this URL:

http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man3/printf.3.html

You might also try other URLs that come up by searching by:

"man 3 printf"

"man printf"

"printf format specifier"

etc.

I don't often work with floating-point numbers and I'm too lazy to look
anything up, but if "f" specifies a floating-point number, something like
"10.2f" is likely to work.

[CBFalconer]

Neil wrote:

>
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program
I wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums
in the printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

You can try variations on the following, which is slightly more
accurate than using fprintf directly. Note that the following is
expected to display values with exponents:

/* format doubles and align output */
/* Public domain, by C.B. Falconer */

#include <stdio.h>

#define dformat(r, d, f) fdformat(stdout, r, d, f)

/* output r in field with fpart digits after dp */
/* At least 1 blank before and after the output */
/* Returns neg on param error, else field used */
/* Allows for exponents from -999 to +999. */
/* Too small fields are automatically expanded */
int fdformat(FILE *fp, double r, int fpart, int field)
{
#define CPMAX 100
char cp[CPMAX];
int n, spacebefore, spaceafter, minchars;

/* Protect against evil arguments */
if (fpart < 1) fpart = 1;
if (r < 0.0) minchars = 9;
else minchars = 8;
if (field < (fpart + minchars)) field = fpart + minchars;
if (field >= CPMAX) return -1;

/* Try the effect of "%.*g" and "%.*e" below */
n = sprintf(cp, "%.*e", fpart, r);
if (n < 0) return n;
spacebefore = field - minchars - fpart;
spaceafter = field - spacebefore - n;
return fprintf(fp, "%*c%s%*c",
spacebefore, ' ', cp, spaceafter, ' ');
} /* fdformat */

--
Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net)
Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems.
<http://cbfalconer.home.att.net>

[Lane Straatman]

"Joe Wright" <jo********@comcast.netwrote in message
news:66******************************@comcast.com. ..

Neil wrote:

>Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

Does anyone know how to code this?

Thanks for all your help
Neil.

The '\b' stuff really won't work for you. Think of printing a value to
some decimals within a field of some width. How big will the largest
number be? Less than 1 million? That's 999999.99 or less. That maximum
will take nine print positions to 'print'. Assume..

Joe, I think he's coming at C from fortran.

>
printf("%9.2f\n", f);

Various values of f will print ..

100000.00
10000.00
1000.00
100.00

..etc. You are not supposed to figure this out. How could you? You are
supposed to read about it in your C reference, or your man or info pages.

I find K&R2's treatment of formatted output vexing. Both fortran and c have
a write specification; it's quite similar. LS

[Neil]

Joe Wright wrote:

Neil wrote:

Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

Does anyone know how to code this?

Thanks for all your help
Neil.

The '\b' stuff really won't work for you. Think of printing a value to
some decimals within a field of some width. How big will the largest
number be? Less than 1 million? That's 999999.99 or less. That maximum
will take nine print positions to 'print'. Assume..

printf("%9.2f\n", f);

Various values of f will print ..

100000.00
10000.00
1000.00
100.00

..etc. You are not supposed to figure this out. How could you? You are
supposed to read about it in your C reference, or your man or info pages.

--
Joe Wright
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
--- Albert Einstein ---

Allright Joe, I'll try that.

Thanks
Neil

[Neil]

David T. Ashley wrote:

"Neil" <ne*********@hotmail.comwrote in message
news:11*********************@p59g2000hsd.googlegro ups.com...

Hello Everyone..
I wrote a function called "totalsales" for a short business program I
wrote, and I can't keep the decimal point aligned in the colums in the
printf output statement. The data comes from an array
sales[4][5], which is passed to the function .

like ---- Tracey John Terry
0.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

Usually what it prints is like this:

like ---- Tracey John Terry
100.00 10.00 51.00
0.00 12.50 50.00

I tried simple code like

if (subtototal 10) {
printf("\b");
}
if (subtotal 100) {
printf("\b\b");
}

Sometimes it works, but I can't find how make all the data line up,
cause the data can vary from 2 digits with the decimal point or up to 5
digits with the decimal point.

You might try this URL:

http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man3/printf.3.html

You might also try other URLs that come up by searching by:

"man 3 printf"

"man printf"

"printf format specifier"

etc.

I don't often work with floating-point numbers and I'm too lazy to look
anything up, but if "f" specifies a floating-point number, something like
"10.2f" is likely to work.

Hey Dave!! Thanks for the info, Maybe now I can get it to work.

-Neil

[Barry Schwarz]

On 11 Jan 2007 16:17:45 -0800, "Neil" <ne*********@hotmail.comwrote:
snip 50+ lines

>Allright Joe, I'll try that.

Thanks
Neil

Please trim your quotes. You don't need to quote an entire message
just to say thanks.
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