Edit#3* Need help with counter-controlled repetition and arguments in c language

Question

Okay, so I need to have the output look like a diamond of asterisks, with each row increasing by 2 asterisks until the middle has 9 asterisks...and then the rows decrease. function main has to be:

int main (void){  
   int i;    
   i = 0;  
   while (i < 5){  
      printline (4-i, i*2+1);  
      i = i + 1;  
   }  
   i = 3;  
   while (i >= 0) {  
      printline (4-i, i*2+1);  
      i = i - 1;  
   }  
   return 0;  
}

Now I am supposed to define function printline to print a single line of the figure each time it is called. It takes 2 arguments, the number of spaces and the number of asterisks that should be printed on the line. Use counter controlled repetition to print the appropriate number of spaces and again to print the appropriate number of asterisks.

char print_line (int spaces, int stars){  
   for (int i = 4; i>=spaces; i--){  
      printf(" ");  
   }  
   for (int i = 1; i<=stars; i+=2){  
      printf("*");  
   }  
   printf("\n");  
}

Woohoo! I'm almost done! The outputs kinda right, except that instead of a line with 4 spaces with a star, a line with 3 spaces with 3 stars, and so on up to no spaces and 9 stars, (and then reverses)...I get a line with a star, a line with a space and 2 stars, a line with two spaces three stars, etc, up to 4 spaces five stars (and then reverses)...
The reason printline is different is because I have problems writing with this sometimes and I kept on getting italics whenever I tried to write it...

Answer 1

Some hints:

• Your function need only print characters, it does not return anything (there's a specific return type for this)
• The number of spaces and the number of stars to print are probably integers
• You can print a single space using printf(" ");
• You can print a single star using printf("*");
• You can print a "newline" (which goes to the next line) using printf("\n");
• If you say int i=0; for(i=0; i<n; i++) { printf("X"); } you will print the letter X a total of n times (you may not have learned for loops at this point; if not, use the next hint)
• If you say int i=0; while(i<n) { printf("X"); i++; } you will also print the letter X a total of n times
• You will be much happier if you use parameter names other than a and b. Try to think of a name that corresponds with what the parameter represents.

Response to your edit:

• You will want to use two separate loops; one that prints the spaces, and then one that prints the stars
• for loops are always constructed with one initializer, one check condition, and one step/increment
• You should not need to assign values to stars or spaces; they are numbers given to you by whoever calls your printline function (i.e. they already have a value)

Response to your second edit:

• In your for loops, you probably want to use an index variable other than the parameter being passed in (e.g. for(i=0; i<spaces; i++), where i is just a counter you declare at the top of your function, like in the code from the assignment) In your current construction, it will try to print 4 spaces, no matter what the caller specified when they called your function.
• You only need to output the newline once, after you're done with all the spaces and stars (i.e. outputing the newline doesn't belong inside a for loop)
• You probably only need to increment your counter by 1 each time you output a star.
• If the assignment says to make a function called printline, you can't call it print_line; that isn't the same thing (neither is PrintLine)

Response to your third edit:

• Don't forget "You probably only need to increment your counter by 1 each time you output a star."
• Don't forget "Your function need only print characters, it does not return anything (there's a specific return type for this)" (i.e. it should not be returning a char)
• I think you want the code that prints spaces to look more like the code that prints stars