I am trying to write this recursive function:
void printFactors(int n)

For this function, I need to print prime factors in ascending order. e.g. for n = 24 the output would be 2 2 2 3. I cannot use loops and static variables for this function.

Here is my solution:

void printFactors(int n) 
{ 
int div = 2; 
if(n == 1) 
{ 
div = 2; 
return; 
} 
else if(n % div == 0) 
{ 
cout << div << " "; 
printFactors(n/div); 
} 
else 
{ 
div++; 
printFactors(n); 
} 
} 

int main() 
{ 
int n = 5; 
cout << "Factors of 5: "; 
printFactors(n); 
cout << endl; 
int n2 = 16; 
cout << "Factors of 16: "; 
printFactors(n2); 
cout << endl; 
int n3 = 24; 
cout << "Factors of 24: "; 
printFactors(n3); 
cout << endl; 
int n4 = 63; 
cout << "Factors of 63: "; 
printFactors(n4); 
cout << endl; 
return 0;   
} 

After testing this code, my program crashed. Is there something that needs to be fixed in the printFactors() function?

Your problem is that div is re-initialized each time the function runs, leading to a stack overflow error. Making div an optional parameter with a default value of 2 and passing the new value at each recursion, is one way around this:

void printFactors(int n, int div = 2)
{
    if (n == 1)
    {
        div = 2;
        return;
    }
    else if (n % div == 0)
    {
        cout << div << " ";
        printFactors(n / div, div);
    }
    else
    {
        div++;
        printFactors(n, div);
    }
}

On a side note the code is much easier to read when it is properly indented.

Unfortunately, the only parameter I can use for this function is n. So, is there another way to fix the printFactors() function without having to make div an optional parameter?

You can also make div static. This means that the value will be persistent and not get re-declared:

void printFactors(int n)
{
    static int div = 2;
    if (n == 1)
    {
        div = 2;
        return;
    }
    else if (n % div == 0)
    {
        cout << div << " ";
        printFactors(n / div);
    }
    else
    {
        div++;
        printFactors(n);
    }
}
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