Printing chars as Integers

Question

I want to control whether my ostream outputting of chars and unsigned char's via << writes them as characters or integers. I can't find such an option in the standard library. For now I have reverted to using multiple overloads on a set of alternative print functions

ostream& show(ostream& os, char s) { return os << static_cast<int>(s); }
ostream& show(ostream& os, unsigned char s) { return os << static_cast<int>(s); }

Is there a better way?

Answer 1

No, there isn't a better way. A better way would take the form of a custom stream manipulator, like std::hex. Then you could turn your integer printing off and on without having to specify it for each number. But custom manipulators operate on the stream itself, and there aren't any format flags to do what you want. I suppose you could write your own stream, but that's way more work than you're doing now.

Honestly, your best bet is to see if your text editor has functions for making static_cast<int> easier to type. I assume you'd otherwise type it a lot or you wouldn't be asking. That way someone who reads your code knows exactly what you mean (i.e., printing a char as an integer) without having to look up the definition of a custom function.