Hollow Square Star Pattern

Program to Print Hollow Square Star Pattern

PRINTING PATTERN:

*****
*   *
*   *
*****
            

PREREQUISITE:

Basic knowledge of C language and loops.

ALGORITHM:

1. Take the number of rows/columns as input from the user (length of the square's side) and store it in a variable ('n').
2. Run a loop 'n' times to iterate through the rows (i=0 to i<n).
3. For the first and last rows, print stars for all columns.
4. For the rows in between, print a star at the beginning and end, and spaces in between.
5. Move to the next line after each row has been printed.

Code in C:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    int n, i, j;  // Declaring integers n for size, i and j for loops
    printf("Enter the number of rows/columns for the hollow square:\n");
    scanf("%d", &n);  // Taking input for number of rows/columns

    for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        for (j = 0; j < n; j++) {
            // Print '*' for the first and last row, and first and last column
            if (i == 0 || i == n - 1 || j == 0 || j == n - 1) {
                printf("*");
            } else {
                printf(" ");  // Print space for hollow part
            }
        }
        printf("\n");  // New line after each row
    }

    return 0;
}
            

Output:

Enter the number of rows/columns for the hollow square:
5
*****
*   *
*   *
*****