CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++
Ashish Gogna
Ashish Gogna

Reputation: 59

How to print/cout unprintable/control characters in c++?

I have string which contains unprintable/control characters - 

\222!,\306G6qh\341Pp\210;\241\2619}\222+"\340\315\364ƅ\344\264\215\230\3130ZG!\214\344y\307W(\254Y^\213F\234oz\263V^\274\2453 L

The value of this string comes from a function and is different every time the program is run.

Is there any way I can printf/cout this string ?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2452

Answers (2)

Paul Evans
Paul Evans

Reputation: 27577

Simply print them as hex, something like this [with EDIT from feedback]:

#include <ctype.h>

for( char c : str )
    if (isprint(c))
        if (c = '\\')
            std::cout << "\\\\";
        else
            std::cout << c;
    else
        std::cout << "\0x" << std::hex
            << static_cast<int>(static_cast<unsigned char>(c));

Upvotes: 2

Lightness Races in Orbit
Lightness Races in Orbit

Reputation: 385284

Loop through the string and, for each character, if it's within the range of what you consider "printable", print it. Otherwise, output some alternative representation of your choice; perhaps a backslash followed by a three-digit octal number representing the character's value in integer form.

Upvotes: 0

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