Hollow Diamond Shape

[etchzel]

I want to create a hollow shaped diamond, I've actually already figured it out, but the shape will get messy if i change either one of the variable's value
here's my code:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    int space = 4, row, i, j;
    
    for ( row = 1; row <= 7; row++ ) {
        if ( row > 4 ) {
             for ( i = 2; i <= space; i++ ) {
                if ( i == row - 2) 
                     cout << '*';
                else 
                     cout << ' ';
                }
             for ( i = space; i >= 1; i-- ) {
                if ( i == row - 3) 
                     cout << '*';
                else 
                     cout << ' ';
                }
             cout << endl;
           }
        else {
            for ( i = space; i >= 1; i-- ) {
                if ( i == row ) 
                     cout << '*';
                else 
                     cout << ' ';
                }
            for ( i = 2; i <= space; i++ ) {
                if ( i == row ) 
                     cout << '*';
                else 
                     cout << ' ';
                }
            cout << endl;
            }
        }
    system("pause");
    return 0;
}

i tried to fix this but didn't found the solution :(
could someone tell me what have i done wrong?

oh and i have another request,
I have a normal diamond shape code, and if possible, i'd like to base the hollowed shape from this code:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    int space = 7, row = 7, stars = 1, i, j;
    
    for ( int init = 1; init <= row; init++ ) {
        for (i = 1; i <= space; i++)
            cout << ' ';
        for (j = 1; j <= stars; j++)
            cout << '*';
        if ( init > (row-1)/2 ) {
           space++;
           stars -= 2;
           }
        else {
           space--;
           stars += 2;
           }
        cout << endl;    
        }
        
    cout << endl;
    system("pause");
    return 0;
}    

any help is appreciated, thanks :)

[devonrevenge]

you could do something like this

bbxbb
bxbxb
xbbbx
bxbxb
bbxbb

and then parse out the b with char b = ' '