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Java String Formatting - How to apply precision using String#printf()?

Java String Formatting Java 

This example shows how to specify precision with String#printf()

Precision is only applied to strings (limiting chars) or floating points (limiting decimal places)

Syntax: x.y; where x= padding (width) and y= number of chars.

For floating point numbers y is used for decimal places.

If the precision is not specified then there is no explicit limit on the number of characters.

package com.logicbig.example.string;

public class StringPrintfPrecision {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //limit to 8 chars
        System.out.printf("%.8s%n", "Welcome to my World!");
        //limit to 6 chars with 15 left spaces (padding)
        System.out.printf("[%15.6s]%n", "Where are you going?");
        //limit to 6 chars with 15 right spaces (padding)
        System.out.printf("[%-15.6s]%n", "Where are you going?");
        //floating point precision of 6 with left padding 10
        System.out.printf("[%10.6f]%n", Math.PI);
        //floating point precision of 6 with left padding 10
        System.out.printf("[%10.2d]%n", 543235999);
    }
}

Output

Welcome 
[         Where ]
[Where          ]
[  3.141593]
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.6.0:java (default-cli) on project java-string: An exception occured while executing the Java class. 2 -> [Help 1]
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoExecutionException

See Also