Align cout format as table's columns

Question

I\'m pretty sure this is a simple question in regards to formatting but here\'s what I want to accomplish:

I want to output data onto the screen using cout

Answer 1

you can do it with

string str = "somthing";
printf ("%10s",str);
printf ("%10s\n",str);
printf ("%10s",str);
printf ("%10s\n",str);

Answer 2

You must find the length of the longest string in the first column. Then you need to output each string in the first column in a field with the length being that of that longest string. This necessarily means you can't write anything until you've read each and every string.

Answer 3

I advise using Boost Format. Use something like this:

cout << format("%|1$30| %2%") % var1 % var2;

Answer 4

setw.

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;

int main () {
  cout << setw(21) << left << "Test"    << 1 << endl;
  cout << setw(21) << left << "Test2"   << 2 << endl;
  cout << setw(21) << left << "Iamlongverylongblah"     << 2 << endl;
  cout << setw(21) << left << "Etc"     << 1 << endl;
  return 0;
}