How to output a character as an integer through cout?

Cast them to an integer type, (and bitmask appropriately!) i.e.:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{  
    char          c1 = 0xab;
    signed char   c2 = 0xcd;
    unsigned char c3 = 0xef;

    cout << hex;
    cout << (static_cast<int>(c1) & 0xFF) << endl;
    cout << (static_cast<int>(c2) & 0xFF) << endl;
    cout << (static_cast<unsigned int>(c3) & 0xFF) << endl;
}

char a = 0xab;
cout << +a; // promotes a to a type printable as a number, regardless of type.

This works as long as the type provides a unary + operator with ordinary semantics. If you are defining a class that represents a number, to provide a unary + operator with canonical semantics, create an operator+() that simply returns *this either by value or by reference-to-const.

source: Parashift.com - How can I print a char as a number? How can I print a char* so the output shows the pointer's numeric value?