C Program to Print Hollow Star Pyramid - Source Code, Output & Execution Flow

C Program to Print Hollow Star Pyramid

This C program prints a hollow star pyramid by combining spaces, boundary checks, and nested loops.

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int rows, i, j, space;
    printf("Enter number of rows: ");
    scanf("%d", &rows);
    for (i = 1; i <= rows; i++) {
        for (space = 1; space <= rows - i; space++) printf(" ");
        for (j = 1; j <= 2 * i - 1; j++) {
            if (j == 1 || j == 2 * i - 1 || i == rows) printf("*");
            else printf(" ");
        }
        printf("
");
    }
    return 0;
}
Enter number of rows: 5
    *
   * *
  *   *
 *     *
*********

In this program, the input is read first when required, the core logic is applied step by step, and the final result is displayed using printf(). Follow the execution flow beside the code to understand how each statement contributes to the output.