Pattern is being printed weird when used in an array in c

Question

I have created an array and some functions that print different patterns each. My problem is that they are printed inside the array in a weird way. The below is the main part of the code and just one function for the example.

int castle(int patternWidth, int doorStart, int doorEnd, int N, int i, int j, int row, int col, char** array) 
    {
        if (N >= 3 && N <= 20) 
        {
            for (i = 1; i <= (N + 1); i++) 
            {
                array[row][col] = '*'; col++;
                array[row][col] = ' '; col++;
            }
            row++;

            patternWidth = (((N + 1) * 2) - 1);
            doorStart = (patternWidth - 3) / 2; 
            doorEnd = doorStart + 3; 


            for (i = 0; i < N; i++) 
            { 
                for (j = 1; j <= patternWidth; j++) 
                { 
                    if(N - i <= 2 && j > doorStart && j <= doorEnd)
                    {
                        array[row][col] = ' '; col++;
                    } 
                    else 
                    { 
                        array[row][col] = '*'; col++;
                    }
                }
                row++;
            }
        }
        return 0;
    }

    int main() 
        {
            int N = 0, M = 0, i = 0, j = 0, a = 0, b = 0, s = 0, width = 0, height = 0, patternWidth = 0, doorStart = 0, doorEnd = 0, option = 0, num = 3, col = 0, row = 0;
            char** array;

            printf("Give height board size:");
            scanf("%d", &height);
            printf("Give width board size:");
            scanf("%d", &width);

            array = (char**)malloc(height * sizeof(char*));
            for (i = 0; i < width; i++) 
            {
                array[i] = (char*)malloc(height * sizeof(char));
            }


            for (i = 0; i < height; i++) 
            {
                for (j = 0; j < width; j++) 
                {
                    array[i][j] = ' ';
                }
            }

            while (option != 6)
            {
                printf("\nOption: 1-5, 6 to exit\n"
                "1) Stairs and flag\n"
                "2) Castle\n"
                "3) Trap door\n"
                "4) Platform\n"
                "5) Obstacles\n"
                "Option:");
                scanf("%d", &option);
                if (option == 1) 
                {
                    printf("Valid values 6 - 20\n");
                    printf("Size:");
                    scanf("%d", &N);
                    printf("Height Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &row);
                    printf("Width Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &col);
                    stairs_flag(N, i, j, b, a, num, col, row, array);
                }
                else if (option == 2) 
                {
                    printf("Valid values 3 - 15\n");
                    printf("Size:");
                    scanf("%d", &N);
                    printf("Height Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &row);
                    printf("Width Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &col);
                    castle(patternWidth, doorStart, doorEnd, N, i, j, row, col, array);
                }
                else if (option == 3) 
                {
                    printf("Valid values 3 - 18\n");
                    printf("Size of N:");
                    scanf("%d", &N);
                    printf("Height Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &row);
                    printf("Width Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &col);
                    trap_door(N, patternWidth, i, j, col, row, array);
                }
                else if (option == 4) 
                {
                    printf("Valid values of N 3 - 20\n");
                    printf("Size of N:");
                    scanf("%d", &N);
                    printf("Valid values of M 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20\n");
                    printf("Size of M");
                    scanf("%d", &M);
                    printf("Height Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &row);
                    printf("Width Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &col);
                    platform(N, M, i, j, col, row, array);
                }
                else if (option == 5) 
                {
                    printf("Valid values 2 - 10\n");
                    printf("Size of N:");
                    scanf("%d", &N);
                    printf("Height Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &row);
                    printf("Width Position:");
                    scanf("%d", &col);
                    obstacles(N, i, s, j, patternWidth, row, col, array);
                }

            print_array(array, height, width);
            }       

            free(array);

            return 0;
        }

The expected result and the correct one is this :

 |------------------------------------------------------------|
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |          * * * * *                                         |
 |          *********                                         |
 |          *********                                         |
 |          ***   ***                                         |
 |          ***   ***                                         |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |------------------------------------------------------------|

But the actual result is this:

 |------------------------------------------------------------|
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |          * * * * *                                         |
 |                    *********                               |
 |                             *********                      |
 |                                      ***   ***             |
 |                                               ***   ***    |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |                                                            |
 |------------------------------------------------------------|

For example, in the two arrays above, the board is 60 width and 20 height and for the pattern I gave the position 10 for both height and width. Every line of the pattern should be under the previous one and print a pattern but in reality it prints every line under the previous one but further more than the previous. How can I correct this? Is there any mistake in the function code. For every function I have done the same thing. I've put array[row][col] = '*'; col++; for the asterisks and array[row][col] = ' '; col++; for the spaces and row++; to print each line in a new line.

Thank you for your time

Answer 1

The problem seems to be that your column index col keeps increasing throughout the castle() function. If you want the asterisks to be aligned under each other, you need to set the column index back to its original value at the start of the for-loops.

For example, you could make it

int castle(int patternWidth, int doorStart, int doorEnd, int N, int i, int j, int row, int col, char** array) 
    { 
        int column_index = col;
        if (N >= 3 && N <= 20) 
        {
            for (i = 1; i <= (N + 1); i++) 
            {
                array[row][col] = '*'; col++;
                array[row][col] = ' '; col++;
            }
            row++;

            patternWidth = (((N + 1) * 2) - 1);
            doorStart = (patternWidth - 3) / 2; 
            doorEnd = doorStart + 3; 


            for (i = 0; i < N; i++) 
            { 
                for (j = 1; j <= patternWidth; j++) 
                { 
                    col = column_index;
                    if(N - i <= 2 && j > doorStart && j <= doorEnd)
                    {
                        array[row][col] = ' '; col++;
                    } 
                    else 
                    { 
                        array[row][col] = '*'; col++;
                    }
                }
                row++;
            }
        }
        return 0;
    }

where I added a command int column_index = col; which stores the original value at the start of the function, and a line col = column_index; at the start of the inner for-loop, putting the stored value back in the variable.