# Creating patterns using C++

• C/++/#
How to create patterns using C++? I am new to programming and would really appreciate some help in creating patterns. For example, how will you create this pattern using two for-loops?

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

And btw, this is not a homework question. Was just curious. Thanks. And please also explain the algorithm for creating such patterns. Thanks!

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Borek
Mentor
External loop is responsible for the number of lines printed, internal loop is responsible for printing stars in each line.

I tried, but all I get is a horizontal line of asterisks. what can be wrong?

robphy
Homework Helper
Gold Member
cout<<endl;

I included endl in the same cout statement, like this:

cout <<"*"<<endl;

does that make any difference?

Borek
Mentor
endl ends the line - if there is no endl added, all asterisks will land in one line:

Code:
cout << "*";
cout << "*";
cout << "*";
cout << "*";
yields

****

while

Code:
cout << "*";
cout << "*";
cout << endl;
cout << "*";
cout << "*";
yields

**
**

Code:
cout << "*" << endl;
and

Code:
cout << "*";
cout << endl;
are equivalent.

phinds
Gold Member
2019 Award
RoughRoad, when you are trying to do something with a program is is best to follow the old adage "if you don't know how to do it without a computer, then you don't know how to do it WITH a computer". The implication of this is that you should lay out a set of clearly defined, logical steps that do what you want. Then implementing those steps in a computer language should be trivial.

For example:

step 1: set n=1
step 2: start a new line
step 3: print n asterisks in a row
step 4: increment n
step 5: if n > 10 then stop
step 5: go back to step 1

EDIT: these steps, by the way, are called "pseudo code", which basically just means "I'm not really computer code but I'm a consistent, logical, set of steps written in English so I'm pretending to be computer code until somebody decides on a language and turns me into REAL computer code"