Beginner to Arrays-CodePudding

//This is the example  
#include <stdio.h>

#define SIZE 10

int main() {
    int n[ SIZE ] = { 19, 3, 15, 7, 11, 9, 13, 5, 17, 1 };
    int i, j;
    printf("%sss\n", "Element", "Value", "Histogram");//This part here is what is unlcear to me

    for (i = 0; i < SIZE;   i) {
        printf( "}d ", i, n[ i ]);

        for ( j = 1; j <= n[ i ]; j   )
            printf( "%c",'*' );

        printf( "\n" );  
    }

    return 0;
}

I am new to arrays and i've seen this example where it's suppoesd to create a histogram of stars and i've stumbled on that Printf and i have no clue why is it there and what are the numbers after the % do

CodePudding user response：

Those numbers are there to create spacing. If you try printf("%s%s%s\n", "Element", "Value", "Histogram") instead, the output becomes `ElementValueHistogram. Basically the spacing just says that the second string should take up 13 characters worth of space, even if there aren't 13 characters. The way that C formats these strings, the empty space is at the beginning.

CodePudding user response：

The numbers next to % determine the number of characters it can take.

So for example, printf("%s%s%s","Element","Value","Histogram") would output "ElementValueHistogram"

While, printf("%sss","Element","Value","Histogram") would output "Element Value Histogram"

So Value has 5 letters, with s it would print "_____Value". Same with Histogram with 9 letters, with s it would print "_Histogram". Where the underscores represent the spaces.

Normally, C would print empty characters to fill in the spaces.