Formatted Output in Java using printf()

Sometimes in programming, it is essential to print the output in a given specified format. Most users are familiar with the printf function in C. Let us discuss how we can Formatting Output with printf() in Java in this article.

Formatting Using Java Printf()

printf() uses format specifiers for formatting. There are certain data types are mentioned below:

• For Number Formatting
• Formatting Decimal Numbers
• For Boolean Formatting
• For String Formatting
• For Char Formatting
• For Date and Time Formatting

i). For Number Formatting

The number itself includes Integer, Long, etc. The formatting Specifier used is %d.

Below is the implementation of the above method:

10,000

ii). For Decimal Number Formatting

Decimal Number Formatting can be done using print() and format specifier %f .

Below is the implementation of the above method:

3.141593
3.142
 3.14

iii). For Boolean Formatting

Boolean Formatting can be done using printf and ( '%b' or '%B' ) depending upon the result needed.

Below is the implementation of the above method:

true
TRUE
false
FALSE

iv). For Char Formatting

Char Formatting is easy to understand as it need printf() and Charracter format specifier used are '%c' and '%C'.

Below is the implementation of the above method:

g
G

v). For String Formatting

String Formatting requires the knowledge of Strings and format specifier used '%s' and '%S'.

Below is the implementation of the above method:

geeksforgeeks 
GEEKSFORGEEKS 
GFG 
GFG 

vi). For Date and Time Formatting

Formatting of Date and Time is not as easy as the data-type used above. It uses more than simple format specifier knowledge can be observed in the example mentioned below.

Below is the implementation of the above method:

Current Time: 11:32:36
Hours: 11 Minutes: 32 Seconds: 36
11:32:36 am 198 198000000 +0000 

Note: System.out.format() is equivalent to printf() and can also be used.

Other Methods for Formatting

1. Formatting using DecimalFormat class 

DecimalFormat is used to format decimal numbers.

Below is the implementation of the above method:

Without fraction part: num = 123
Formatted to Give precision: num = 123.46
appended zeroes to right: num = 123.456700
formatting Numeric part : num = 00123.46
your Formatted Dream Income : $23,456.79

2. Formatting dates and parsing using SimpleDateFormat class

This class is present in java.text package. 

Below is the implementation of the above method: