Question

Source:

#include <stdio.h>

void main()

{

int i, j, tree_Size, spaces, total_Spaces, x;
char tree_Characters;

printf("Enter characters to use --> ");
 scanf("%c", &tree_Characters);
printf("Enter size of tree --> ");
 scanf("%d", &tree_Size);

   //For handling top part of tree
   for (i = 0; i <= tree_Size; i++) {
      printf("\n");
      total_Spaces = tree_Size - i;

        //Determine spaces before each number for pyramid
      for (spaces = 1; spaces <= total_Spaces; spaces++) 
         printf(" ");

      //Make first line always one number
      for (j = -1; j < i; j++)
         if (j <= -1)
            printf("%c", tree_Characters);
         else if (j > -1)
            printf("%c%c", tree_Characters, tree_Characters);
   } 

   //For handling stem and base of tree
   for (i = 0; i <= tree_Size; i++) {

      //if handling stem
      if (i < tree_Size) {
         printf("\n");  
         for (spaces = 1; spaces <= tree_Size; spaces++)
            printf(" ");
         printf("%c", tree_Characters);
      }

      //else if handling base

      else if (i == tree_Size) {
         printf("\n");

         for (x = 0; x <= tree_Size * 2; x++) {
            printf("%c", tree_Characters);
         }
      }
   }

printf("\n");

}

Here is the output it produces so far
Here is a thread I made on reddit for better understanding (comments)

The goal of the assignment is for it to look like this:

*** Print a Tree ***

Enter characters to use ---   *|=+
Enter size of tree      ---   4

    *
   ***
  *****
 *******
*********
    |
    |
    |
    |
====+====

What I don’t understand is how to process characters. The teacher was mentioning putting characters into some buffer and then clearing it etc, I have no idea. Can anyone help? I have to use scanf, can’t convert anything to strings or use anything advanced.

Answer 1

You need to make tree_Characters a array (char tree_Characters[5] for a five element array, which will hold your four tree chars and a nul terminator), and change the first scanf.

scanf("%4s%*[^\n]",tree_Characters);
//      vv\_____/  ^-- array will decay to char*
//      ||   \-- discard the rest of the line
//      ||         ("*" indicates discard, "[^\n]" matches everything but '\n')
//      |\-- string (non-whitespace characters only)
//      \-- at most four characters scanned

See http://linux.die.net/man/3/scanf for more information.

Edit: You will of course have to change the rest of the program to select the appropriate characters for each tree element. (See @eznme’s answer.)

Edit: No-array Version:

char tree_leaf,tree_stem,tree_ground,tree_root;
scanf("%c%c%c%c%*[^\n]",&tree_leaf,&tree_stem,&tree_ground,&tree_root);

This will react badly to too-short input lines.