How to eliminate the extra asterisk shown from the prime factorization output?

Question

The following code inputs an integer (n) from the user and outputs the prime decomposition of n. I need to have the following output (as an example), but can't reach it:

Input: 98

Output: 2*7^2

The actual wrong output, which has an extra "*" is:

2*7^2*
     ^

Maybe there is another solution using functions, which I don't know.

#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    int n, countA = 0, countB = 0;
    cin>>n;
    while(n % 2 == 0)
    {
        n /= 2;
        countA++;
    }
    if(countA == 1)
        cout<<2<<"*";
    else if(countA != 0)
        cout<<2<<"^"<<countA;
    for(int i = 3; i <= sqrt(n); i = i + 2)
    {
        while(n % i == 0)
        {
            n /= i;
            countB++;
        }
        if(countB == 1)
            cout<<i<<"*";
        else if(countB != 0)
        cout<<i<<"^"<<countB<<"*";
    }
    if(n > 2)
        cout<<n;
    return 0;
}

Answer 1

So one of the possible solutions to my question, according to @Jonathan Leffler's comment is as follows:

#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;

const char *pad = "";
int main()
{
    int n, countA = 0, countB = 0;
    cin>>n;
    while(n % 2 == 0)
    {
        n /= 2;
        countA++;
    }
    if(countA > 0)
    {
        cout<<pad;   
        cout<<2;     
        if(countA > 1)
        {
            cout<<"^"<<countA;
        }
        pad = "*";
    }
    for(int i = 3; i <= sqrt(n); i = i + 2)
    {
        countB = 0;
        while(n % i == 0)
        {
            n /= i;
            countB++;
        }
        if(countB > 0)
        {
            cout<<pad;
            cout<<i;
            if(countB > 1)
            {
                cout<<"^"<<countB;
            }
            pad = "*";
        }
    }
    if(n > 2)
    {
        cout<<pad;
        cout<<n;
        pad = "*";
    }
    return 0;
}