Using width specifier with printf with no variable

Question

I am working on a project for my C Programming Class. I know that when specifying width in a printf statement WITH a variable, it would look like this:

printf("%03d\n", tvQuantity);

With 3 being the width and 0 stating we want the number preceded by 0's.

My question is, how would I define a width in a printf statement where I'm not calling a variable? For example, to add a width of 6 to the following statement:

printf("Text here");

As there is no format specifier (such as %d), where would I place my width and other formatting arguments?

@Schwern I'm trying to output my data in a format similar to this imgur.com/a/Vb6PQCw — RobertRDev
– RobertRDev, Commented Jan 30, 2020 at 20:22
Yes just not for the QTY, DESCRIPTION, UNIT PRICE, AND TOTAL PRICE column names — RobertRDev
– RobertRDev, Commented Jan 30, 2020 at 20:30
@RobertRDev Post data here, not behind something that may be inaccessible. — chux
– chux, Commented Jan 30, 2020 at 20:33

Schwern · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-30 20:26:02Z

2

printf("Text here"); needs no width. It'll just print Text here.

You could write it as printf("%6s", "Text here") but that will do nothing as the width is a minimum and the text is longer than 6 characters.

If you want to pad the text, say with a width of 20, you can write printf("%20s\n", "Text here"). This could be useful if the string was defined in a constant.

To format your text in columns, you'd use multiple %s formats in a single printf.

printf("%20s %20s %20s\n", "Cell 1", "Cell 2", "Cell 3");

answered Jan 30, 2020 at 20:26

Schwern

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RobertRDev Over a year ago

This is exactly what I was searching for. Thank you very much!

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