Java formatting text output

[aceman817]

hey guys. is there a way to format text output in a table with java that is relatively simple? i know in C/C++ the 'setw' allows easy spacing of characters. i want to print a table of strings, integers, and double similar to the following:

Name Age GPA
------- ---- -----
Joe 20 3.6
Larry 17 3.4
Sue 19 3.7

 

[Thyme]

You can write a function that will pad the String before you output it. Alternatively, you can use \t and see if that will keep it aligned.

 

[statik213]

Are you using Java 5? Take a look at the Formatter class.
http://www.developer.com/java/other/print.php/3327721
javadoc: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/Formatter.html#syntax

 

[aceman817]

thanks for the replies. i am using the new 5 jdk but the formatter class seems more suited to numbers. i can't seem to find a working example of how this would be done. it's sooo easy to handle basic formatting in c/c++ but java seems to make easy things difficult and difficult things easier.

 

[Thyme]

Here's one:

final public String pad(final String target, final int count) {
StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
for (int current = 0; current < count; current++)
buffer.append(" ");
buffer.append(target);
return buffer.toString();
}

 

[wkinney]

we use lava3 printf for java here, its great.

http://sharkysoft.com/software/java/lava3/printf/

 

[kamper]

The Formatter functionality is made handy in various printf methods in jdk5.0. Particularly in PrintWriter (which is what System.out and System.err are). I haven't used it but it should give you something pretty close to c's printf functions. Then you don't have to go importing 3rd party libraries.