Java printf formatting to print items in a table or columns

Question

I am wanting to print things in a neat columns using printf.

happening       0.083333    [4]
hi              0.083333    [0]
if              0.083333    [8]
important       0.083333    [7]
is              0.250000    [3, 5, 10]
it              0.166667    [6, 9]
tagged          0.083333    [11]
there           0.083333    [1]
what            0.083333    [2]

I have this code System.out.printf("%s %.6f %s \n", word, web.getFrequency(word), loc);, but it prints out this:

happening  0.083333  [ 4 ] 
hi  0.083333  [ 0 ] 
if  0.083333  [ 8 ] 
important  0.083333  [ 7 ] 
is  0.250000  [ 3 5 10 ] 
it  0.166667  [ 6 9 ] 
tagged  0.083333  [ 11 ] 
there  0.083333  [ 1 ] 
what  0.083333  [ 2 ]

Any help would be appreciated.

Pad the line to a specified width: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/388461/how-can-i-pad-a-string-in-java — the happy mamba, Nov 01 '15 at 20:02
Possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/699878/is-there-an-easy-way-to-output-two-columns-to-the-console-in-java Which suggest to use the width and precision specifiers, set to the same value (eg. System.out.printf("%-30.30s %-30.30s%n", v1, v2); ). Also see for reference: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Formatter.html#syntax — Bryan Oemar, Nov 01 '15 at 20:02
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15215326/how-can-i-create-table-using-ascii-in-a-console/15215434#15215434 — Pshemo, Nov 01 '15 at 20:11

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 01 '15 at 20:14

8

I would use this:

System.out.printf ("%-30s %1.7f %s%n", word, etc, etc2);

answered Nov 01 '15 at 20:14

dmolony

1,077
9
23

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 01 '15 at 20:17

You can get the max length of all the word strings, and store that length in a variable, max. Use a for loop to get that max, and then create a String that has the format with concatenating the normal printf format with the max variable to be used as the width. Additionally \t puts in a tab character.

int max = 0;
for (int ii = 0; ii < numberOfStrings; ii++)
{
   max = (word.length() > max) ? word.length() : max;
}
String format = "%" + max + "s\t%.6f\t%s \n";
System.out.printf(format, word, web.getFrequency(word), loc);

you might need check max of every column before print – Leon Aug 12 '18 at 08:31 — Leon, Aug 12 '18 at 08:31

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 08 '16 at 00:50

System.out.format("%-8s%-8s%-8s\n","a","b","pow(b,a)");
System.out.format("%-8d%-8d%-8d\n",1,2,1);
System.out.format("%-8d%-8d%-8d\n",2,3,8);
System.out.format("%-8d%-8d%-8d\n",3,4,81);
System.out.format("%-8d%-8d%-8d\n",4,5,1024);
System.out.format("%-8d%-8d%-8d\n",5,6,15625);

//the negative integer kinda sets it back to the number of space needed

daemonThread · Answer 4 · 2018-07-17T15:18:19.253

input:

happening       0.083333    [4]
hi              0.083333    [0]
if              0.083333    [8]
important       0.083333    [7]
is              0.250000    [3, 5, 10]
it              0.166667    [6, 9]
tagged          0.083333    [11]
there           0.083333    [1]
what            0.083333    [2]

code:

import java.util.Scanner;
public class MyClass { 
    private static final Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);
       public static void main(String args[]) {
            for(int i = 0 ; i < 9; i++){
                String str = sc.next();
                float f = sc.nextFloat();
                String str2 = sc.nextLine();
                System.out.printf("%-10s %f %s\n", str, f, str2);
             }
             sc.close();
      }   
  }

output:

happening       0.083333    [4]
hi              0.083333    [0]
if              0.083333    [8]
important       0.083333    [7]
is              0.250000    [3, 5, 10]
it              0.166667    [6, 9]
tagged          0.083333    [11]
there           0.083333    [1]
what            0.083333    [2]

use - to make the string left aligned, use field width to align them properly. In your case printf statement will be

System.out.printf("%-10s %.6f %s\n", word, web.getFrequency(word), loc);

Java printf formatting to print items in a table or columns

4 Answers4

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