Java Print Example

1. Introduction

Java print, Java println and Java System.out.println method is a convenient method found both within the java.io.PrintStream and java.io.PrintWriter class and is used to display a text on the console. The text is passed as a parameter to this method in the form of a String. After printing the text on the console, it places the cursor at the end of the text. The most common function call is “System.out.println”. The next printing takes place from there. It has various overloaded forms as shown below:

 public void print(boolean b)

 public void print(char c) 

 public void print(int i) 

 public void print(long l) 

 public void print(float f) 

 public void print(double d) 

 public void print(char[] s) 

 public void print(String s) 

 public void print(Object obj) 

Note: print() and java system.out.println() method under the PrintStream class is used to print bytes to the output stream whereas the print() method within the PrintWriter class is used to display the characters to the output stream. In this tutorial, we will refer to the print() method belonging to the PrintWriter class for all our examples and descriptions.

2. print Method in Java

Table displaying the details of the various overloaded forms of the print() method.

2.1 Java print Example

The following example shows the usage of different forms of the print() method.

PrintDemo.java

    public class PrintDemo {
       public static void main(String[] args)
	    {
		boolean b=true;
		char c='i';
		int i=30;
		long l=20000L;
		float f = 23.45f;
		double d = 200.34;
		char[] name= {'S','A','M'};
		String str="Carl Jackson";
	        Object obj = new Object();
		
	     //print a boolean value
	       System.out.print(b);
	     //print a character value
	       System.out.print(c);
	    //print an integer value
	       System.out.print(i);
	    //print an long value
	       System.out.print(l);
	    //print a float value
	       System.out.print(f);
	    //print a double value
	       System.out.print(d);
	    //print a character array
	       System.out.print(name);
	    //print a String
	       System.out.print(str);
	    //print an object
	       System.out.print(obj);
	}
}	

After running the above code in any IDE of your choice you’ll receive the following output:

Output

truei302000023.45200.34SAMCarl Jacksonjava.lang.Object@2ff4acd0

As we can see in the above output for the given code, the output for each print statement is printed just after the previous output and there is no blank space between the two outputs for two consecutive print statements.

3. Introduction to println method and difference with the print method in Java

The java system.out.println() method is another convenient method within the PrintWriter class which is used for displaying text on the console. The only difference between print() and java System.out.println() method is that the latter positions the cursor onto the next line after printing the desired text while the former method leaves the cursor on the same line. The different overloaded forms of java System.out.println() method are as follows:

public void println()

public void println(boolean x)

public void println(char x)

public void println(int x)

public void println(long x)

public void println(float x)

public void println(double x)

public void println(char[] x)

public void println(String x)

public void println(Object x)

3.1 System.out.println() Method in Java

Table displaying the details of the various overloaded forms of System.out,println() method in Java.

3.2 Java System.out.println Example

The following example shows the usage of different forms of the java System.out.println() method.

PrintlnDemo.java

    
class PrintlnDemo {
  public static void main(String[] args)
     {
	   boolean b=false;
	   char ch='C';
	   int i=20;
	   long l= 2000L;
	   float f=20.34f;
	   double d=20.23;
	   char[] name= {'S','A','M'};
	   String str="Carl Jackson";
	   Object obj = new Object();
	   
	    // using simple println() method 
	        System.out.println();
	    // printing boolean value
	      System.out.println(b);
	   // printing char value
	      System.out.println(ch);
	   // printing int value
	      System.out.println(i);  
	   // printing long value
	      System.out.println(l);  
	   // printing float value
	      System.out.println(f);
	   // printing double value
	      System.out.println(d);
	   // printing char array value
	      System.out.println(name);
	   // printing String value
	      System.out.println(str);
	   // printing Object value
	      System.out.println(obj);
   }
}

After running the above code in any IDE of your choice you’ll receive the following output:

Output

  
false
C
20
2000
20.34
20.23
SAM
Carl Jackson
java.lang.Object@2ff4acd0

In the above output, we can see that output generated from each of the println() method ends with a new line i.e. the output for the next statement is printed in a new line.

4. Introduction to Printf() method

The printf() method is a convenience method under the PrintWriter class to write a formatted string to the writer object using the specified format string and arguments. If automatic flushing is enabled, calls to this method will flush the output buffer. printf() provides string formatting similar to the printf function in C. The different overloaded forms of printf() method are as follows:

• public PrintWriter printf(String format, Object… args)
• public PrintWriter printf(Locale l, String format,Object… args)

4.1 printf() method in Java

Table displaying the details of the various overloaded forms of printf() method.

4.2 Java printf Example

The following example shows the usage of different forms of the printf() method.

PrintfDemo.java

import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;

public class PrintfDemo {

	public static void main(String[] args)
	{
		
		// Number Formatting
		int x = 10;
		System.out.printf("Formatted output is: %d %d%n", x, -x);
		
		
		// Precision formatting
		float y = 2.28f;
		System.out.printf("Precision formatting upto 4 decimal places %.4f\n",y);
			
		float z = 3.147293165f;
		System.out.printf("Precision formatting upto 2 decimal places %.2f\n",z);
		
		
		// Filling with Zeroes
		
		System.out.printf("'%05.2f'%n", 2.28);
		System.out.printf("'%010.2f'%n", 2.28);
		System.out.printf("'%010.2f'%n", -2.28);
		System.out.printf("'%010.2f'%n", 1234567.89);
		System.out.printf("'%010.2f'%n", -1234567.89);
		
		
		// Right and Left alignment
		System.out.printf("'%10.2f'%n", 2.28);
		System.out.printf("'%-10.2f'%n", 2.28);
		
		// Using comma and locale
		System.out.printf(Locale.US, "%,d %n", 5000);
		
		
		// String formatting
		System.out.printf("%s %s!%n","Hello","World");
		System.out.printf("%s\f%s!%n","Hello","World!");
		System.out.printf("%s\\%s!%n","Hello","World!");
		
		
		// Uppercase
		
		System.out.printf("%s %S!%n","Hello","World");
		
		
		// Boolean Formatting
		
		System.out.printf("%b%n", false);
		System.out.printf("%b%n", 0.5);
		System.out.printf("%b%n", "false");
		
		
		// Time Formatting
		
		Date date = new Date();
		System.out.printf("%tT%n", date);
		System.out.printf("H : %tH, M: %tM, S: %tS%n",date,date,date);
		System.out.printf("%1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS %1$Tp GMT %1$tz  %n", date);
		
		//  Date Formatting
		
		System.out.printf("%s %tB %<te, %<tY", "Current date: ", date);
		System.out.printf("%1$td.%1$tm.%1$ty %n", date);
		System.out.printf("%s %tb %<te, %<ty", "Current date: ", date);
}
}

Output

Formatted output is: 10 -10
Precision formatting upto 4 decimal places 2.2800
Precision formatting upto 2 decimal places 3.15
'02.28'
'0000002.28'
'-000002.28'
'1234567.89'
'-1234567.89'
'      2.28'
'2.28      '
5,000 
Hello World!
HelloWorld!!
Hello\World!!
Hello WORLD!
false
true
true
16:21:20
H : 16, M: 21, S: 20
16:21:20 PM GMT +0530  
Current date:  March 17, 202017.03.20 
Current date:  Mar 17, 20

5. Conclusion

In this article, we saw the usage of the following Java methods print, println and printf from the PrintStream class. We also saw their differences with each other and how they can be used in different situations for printing different types of outputs to the console.

6. References

• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/io/PrintWriter.html#PrintWriter(java.io.OutputStream,%20boolean)
• https://www.journaldev.com/28692/java-printf-method

7. Download the source code

That was a Java print Example.

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