Garbage values when array declared as unsigned char

Question

When an array is declared as unsigned char and initialized with values in the range 0x00-0xff and printed using cout, I get garbage values as follows

+   (   �           
~   �   �   �   
    �       O   
    �   �   <   

May I know how to use use single byte for the numbers and yet be able to use cout ?

Answer 1

Because it's an unsigned char, std::cout is passing them to the terminal and it's being displayed as a character set (Well, attempting, anyway - the values are outside the range of valid printable characters for the character set you're using).

Cast to unsigned int when outputting with cout.

Answer 2

Char types are displayed as characters by default. If you want them displayed as integers, you will have to convert them first:

unsigned char value = 42;
std::cout << static_cast<unsigned int>(value);

Answer 3

Those aren't garbage values. Those are what the character represents. To print it as an int, simply cast to unsigned int at output time:

cout << (unsigned int) some_char;