Question

I need to create a pyramid using asterisks. I specify a value which becomes the base of the pyramid. The base contains as much asterisks as the value specified and the pyramid must skip its rows by 1..Here I am facing a problem when I specify an even number of base..

The pyramid must looke like the one below.

    * 
   *** 
  ***** 
 ******* 
********* 
********** 

I am getting

####* 
###*** 
##***** 
###***** 
####***** 
********** 

I want to replace the # by some blank space and I am getting the bug that the number of asterisks in the 4th row has decreased.. How do I fix these two bugs ?

function create_pyramid($limit){

     if ($limit > 0){
        for ($row =0;$row<=$limit;$row++){
            if (($row % 2 == 0) && ($row != $limit)){ continue;}
            $rows = "";
            for ($col =0;$col<$row;$col++){
                $rows= $rows.'*';
            }
            $pattern = "%'#".((($limit - $row)/2)+$row)."s\n";
            printf ($pattern,$rows);
            print '<br />';
        }
        }
        else{
            print "Invalid data";
        }
     }

     create_pyramid(10);

Answer 1

Just make it simpler:

function create_pyramid($limit) {
    for($row = 1; $row < $limit; $row ++) {
        $stars = str_repeat('*', ($row - 1) * 2 + 1);
        $space = str_repeat(' ', $limit - $row);
        echo $space . $stars . '<br/>';
    }
}
echo "<pre>" ;
create_pyramid(10);