Send_to_char_centered() and divide()

[the_sage2000]

Ok this is half a little snippet and half a suggestions e-mail. I have
two handy functions called send_to_char_centered() and divide.
Send_to_char_centered() will center a string of text to a screen 80
spaces wide, while divide will use stcc to make a divider. The syntax for
send_to_char_centered is: send_to_char_centered( "Hello world!", ch );
And for divide it's: divide( 40, ch ); This will make:
                    ----------------------------------------
The code for the two are right here. So far I havn't found any bugs
except if you try to go over 78 '---'s in divide it will crash the MUD. I
just know SOMETHING has to be more wrong than that. Any suggestions for
improvement guys? Here's the code (Yes it's in semi-C++ for now):

/**********************************************************************
 File:   Util.cpp      Description: Various text manipulation utilities
 Author: Devin Torres  Date:        March 20, 2002
 **********************************************************************/

/**********************************************************************
 Needed includes.
 **********************************************************************/
#include <cstdio>
#include <ctime>
#include <string>
#include "merc.h"

/**********************************************************************
 Center a string of text.
 **********************************************************************/
void send_to_char_centered( char *txt, CHAR_DATA *ch )
{
    char buf[MAX_STRING_LENGTH];
    short int length;

    buf[0] = '\0';
    length = strlen( txt );

    if ( length > 78 )
        length = 78;

    if ( length < 1 )
        length = 1;

    length /= 2;
    length = 40 - length;

    do
    {
        strcat( buf, " " );
        length--;
    } while ( length != 0 );

    strcat( buf, txt );
    send_to_char( buf, ch );
}

/**********************************************************************
 Build a centered divider for text.
 **********************************************************************/
void divide( short int length, CHAR_DATA *ch )
{
    char buf[MAX_STRING_LENGTH];

    buf[0] = '\0';

    if ( length > 78 )
        length = 78;

    if ( length < 1 )
        length = 1;

    do
    {
        strcat( buf, "-" );
        length--;
    } while ( length != 0 );

    send_to_char_centered( buf, ch );
}