How to center string output using printf() and variable width?

Question

I'm creating an output in Java using printf() to create table headers. One of the columns needs variable width.

Basically it should look like this:

//two coords
Trial    Column Heading
1        (20,30)(30,20)
//three coords
Trial        Column Heading
1        (20,40)(50,10)(90,30)

I tried to use:

int spacing = numCoords * 7; //size of column
printf("Trial    %*^s", column, "Column Heading");

But I keep getting output errors when I try to use * or ^ in the conversion statement.

Does anyone have any idea what the correct formatting string should be?

Behrang Saeedzadeh · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-25 21:48:41Z

7

Use StringUtils.center from the Commons Lang library:

StringUtils.center(column, "Column Heading".length());

answered Apr 25, 2010 at 21:48

Behrang Saeedzadeh

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Brett Kail · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-25 21:23:44Z

4

Java does not support the "*" format specifier. Instead, insert the width directly into the format string:

int spacing = numCoords * 7; //size of column
System.out.printf("Trial    %" + spacing + "s", "Column Heading");

answered Apr 25, 2010 at 21:23

Brett Kail

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3 Comments

Khan Over a year ago

OK, this makes sense, except the output isn't centered, it would be aligned right, correct? (There are more columns, so it needs to either be centered or have equal spacing on each side)

Brett Kail Over a year ago

Indeed. ((spacing + "Column Heading") / 2) would do that, I think. By the way, if you find an answer you like (this one or someone else's), you should accept it to grant points.

Marvo Over a year ago

Thanks. As a C programmer from decades past, I was trying to get the * to work -- and some blog out there says it should work. This is an almost too obvious workaround that I somehow couldn't come up with. =)

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