leftover.cpp

// leftover.cpp -- overloading the left() function
#include <iostream>
unsigned long left(unsigned long num, unsigned ct);
char * left (const char * str, int n = 1);
int main()
{
	using namespace std;
	const char * trip = "Hawaii!!!";
	unsigned long n = 12345678;
	int i;
	char * temp;

	for (int i = 1; i < 10; i++) {
		cout << left(n, i) << endl;
		temp = left(trip, i);
		cout << temp << endl;
		delete [] temp;
	}

	return 0;
}

unsigned long left(unsigned long num, unsigned ct)
{
	unsigned digits = 1;
	unsigned long n = num;

	if (ct == 0 || num == 0) {
		return 0;
	}
	while (n /= 10) {
		digits++;
	}
	if (digits > ct) {
		ct = digits - ct;
		while (ct--) {
			num /= 10;
		}
		return num;
	} else {
		return num;
	}
	
}

char * left(const char * str, int n)
{
	if (n < 0) {
		n = 0;
	}
	char * p = new char[n + 1];
	int i;
	for (i = 0; i < n && str[i]; i++) {
		p[i] = str[i];
	}
	while (i <= n) {
		p[i++] = '\0';
	}
	return p;
}