[java] How to format strings in Java

Primitive question, but how do I format strings like this:

"Step {1} of {2}"

by substituting variables using Java? In C# it's easy.

If you choose not to use String.format, the other option is the + binary operator

String str = "Step " + a + " of " + b;

This is the equivalent of

new StringBuilder("Step ").append(String.valueOf(1)).append(" of ").append(String.valueOf(2));

Whichever you use is your choice. StringBuilder is faster, but the speed difference is marginal. I prefer to use the + operator (which does a StringBuilder.append(String.valueOf(X))) and find it easier to read.

This solution worked for me. I needed to create urls for a REST client dynamically so I created this method, so you just have to pass the restURL like this

/customer/{0}/user/{1}/order

and add as many params as you need:

public String createURL (String restURL, Object ... params) {       
    return new MessageFormat(restURL).format(params);
}

You just have to call this method like this:

createURL("/customer/{0}/user/{1}/order", 123, 321);

The output

"/customer/123/user/321/order"

I've wrote my simple method for it :

public class SomeCommons {
    /** Message Format like 'Some String {0} / {1}' with arguments */
    public static String msgFormat(String s, Object... args) {
        return new MessageFormat(s).format(args);
    }
}

so you can use it as:

SomeCommons.msfgFormat("Step {1} of {2}", 1 , "two");

Take a look at String.format. Note, however, that it takes format specifiers similar to those of C's printf family of functions -- for example:

String.format("Hello %s, %d", "world", 42);

Would return "Hello world, 42". You may find this helpful when learning about the format specifiers. Andy Thomas-Cramer was kind enough to leave this link in a comment below, which appears to point to the official spec. The most commonly used ones are:

• %s - insert a string
• %d - insert a signed integer (decimal)
• %f - insert a real number, standard notation

This is radically different from C#, which uses positional references with an optional format specifier. That means that you can't do things like:

String.format("The {0} is repeated again: {0}", "word");

... without actually repeating the parameter passed to printf/format. (see The Scrum Meister's comment below)

If you just want to print the result directly, you may find System.out.printf (PrintStream.printf) to your liking.

Java 15

There is a new instance method called String::formatted(Object... args) as of Java 15.

The internal implementation is same to String::format(String format, Object... args).

Formats using this string as the format string, and the supplied arguments.

String step1 = "one";
String step2 = "two";

// results in "Step one of two"
String string = "Step %s of %s".formatted(step1, step2);     

Advantage: The difference is that the method is not static and the formatting pattern is a string itself from which a new one is created based on the args. This allows chaining to build the format itself first.

Disadvantage: There is no overloaded method with Locale, therefore uses the default one. If you need to use a custom Locale, you have to stick with String::format(Locale l,String format,Object... args).

I wrote this function it does just the right thing. Interpolate a word starting with $ with the value of the variable of the same name.

private static String interpol1(String x){
    Field[] ffield =  Main.class.getDeclaredFields();
    String[] test = x.split(" ") ;
    for (String v : test ) {
        for ( Field n: ffield ) {
            if(v.startsWith("$") && ( n.getName().equals(v.substring(1))  )){
                try {
                    x = x.replace("$" + v.substring(1), String.valueOf( n.get(null)));
                }catch (Exception e){
                    System.out.println("");
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return x;
}

public class StringFormat {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
            Scanner sc=new Scanner(System.in);
            System.out.println("================================");
            for(int i=0;i<3;i++){
                String s1=sc.next();
                int x=sc.nextInt();
                System.out.println(String.format("%-15s%03d",s1,x));
            }
            System.out.println("================================");

    }
}

outpot "================================"
ved15space123 ved15space123 ved15space123 "================================

Java solution

• The "-" is used to left indent

• The "15" makes the String's minimum length it takes up be 15

• The "s" (which is a few characters after %) will be substituted by our String
• The 0 pads our integer with 0s on the left
• The 3 makes our integer be a minimum length of 3

The org.apache.commons.text.StringSubstitutor helper class from Apache Commons Text provides named variable substitution

Map<String, String> valuesMap = new HashMap<>();
valuesMap.put("animal", "quick brown fox");
valuesMap.put("target", "lazy dog");
String resolved = new StringSubstitutor(valuesMap).replace("The ${animal} jumped over the ${target}.");
System.out.println(resolved); // The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.