C++ Program: A Conversion Glitch?

I'm a beginner at C++

Short version of my problem:

Why would cout << tolower(user_input) result in a three-digit numeric value being output to the screen when user_input has been declared/defined as char user_input = 0; ?

Long version of my problem:

I had an assignment to create a program that prompts the user for a letter, determines whether the letter is a vowel or a consonant, determines whether it is uppercase or lowercase, and outputs the lowercase form as well as the binary value of the user's input. So I coded the program, but I had a little snafu with the second to the last section of it, the section titled "OUTPUT THE LOWERCASE VALUE OF THE LETTER IN ITS EXPLICIT FORM"

#include <iostream>

#include <cctype>

using std::cin;

using std::cout;

using std::endl;

using std::isalpha;

using std::islower;

using std::tolower;

int main() {

// EXPLAIN THE PROGRAM TO THE USER

cout << "\n\tThis program solicits a letter from you, determines whether the letter is"

<< "\n\ta vowel or a consonant, determines whether it is lowercase or uppercase,"

<< "\n\toutputs thelowercase form of the letter, and outputs the binary value of

<< "\n\tthe letter."

<< endl;

// DECLARE/DEFINE VARIABLE IN WHICH TO STORE USER'S INPUT

char user_input = 0;

// SOLICIT USER'S INPUT

cout << "\n\tPlease enter a letter:\t";

cin >> user_input;

// DETERMINE WHETHER THE LETTER IS A VOWEL

if(isalpha(user_input)) {

switch(user_input) {

case 'a': case 'e': case 'i': case 'o': case 'u':

case 'A': case 'E': case 'I': case 'O': case 'U':

cout << "\n\tThe letter you entered is a vowel.";

}

// DETERMINE WHETHER THE LETTER IS A CONSONANT

switch(tolower(user_input)) {

case 'b': case 'c': case 'd': case 'f': case 'g': case 'h': case 'j':

case 'k': case 'l': case 'm': case 'n': case 'p': case 'q': case 'r':

case 's': case 't': case 'v': case 'w': case 'x': case 'y': case 'z':

cout << "\n\tThe letter you entered is a consonant.";

}

// DETERMINE WHETHER THE LETTER IS IN ITS LOWERCASE FORM OR ITS UPPERCASE FORM

if(isupper(user_input)) {

cout << "\n\tYou entered the uppercase form of the letter.";

} else {

cout << "\n\tYou entered the lowercase form of the letter.";

}

// OUTPUT THE LOWERCASE VALUE OF THE LETTER IN ITS EXPLICIT FORM

if(isalpha(user_input)) {

char glitch = tolower(user_input);

cout << "\n\tThe lowercase form of the letter is:\t"

<< glitch;

}

// My original layout of the preceding section, which is where I had a problem,

// follows the 'return' statement below.

// OUTPUT THE BINARY VALUE OF THE LETTER

if(isalpha(user_input)) {

cout << "\n\tThe binary code for the letter \'" << user_input << "\' is:\t"

<< ((user_input & 0x80) ? 1 : 0) << ((use r_input & 0x40) ? 1 : 0)

<< ((user_input & 0x20) ? 1 : 0) << ((user_input & 0x10) ? 1 : 0)

<< ((user_input & 0x08) ? 1 : 0) << ((user_input & 0x04) ? 1 : 0)

<< ((user_input & 0x02) ? 1 : 0) << ((user_input & 0x01) ? 1 : 0);

}

} else {

cout << "\n\tThe character you entered is not a letter!";

}

cout << endl << endl;

return 0;

}

*/

* The original version of the problematic section was:

*

* // OUTPUT THE LOWERCASE VALUE OF THE LETTER IN ITS EXPLICIT FORM

* if(isalpha(user_input)) {

* cout << "\n\tThe lowercase form of the letter is:\t"

* << tolower(user_input);;

* }

*

* But this version kept outputting a three-digit numeric value, rather than an explicit

* alphabetic character. I resorted to creating a new variable of the data type 'char'

* and assigning to it the value of the original user-input value of 'user_input'

* because it was the only way I could get the original user-input character to appear

* on the screen.

*

* All the rest of the program did as I expected, and the only compile-time problems that

* I had were forgotten semicolons and parentheses, which I fixed in accordance with the

* compiler's error notifications.

*/

For the record, I used the text-editor Kate to code the program and I used the g++ front-end of the GCC 4.5.2 to compile it --- using a terminal (command prompt, if you prefer).