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Java Output printf() Method

❮ Output Methods


Example

Print some formatted text to the console.

The %s character is a placeholder for the string "World":

System.out.printf("Hello %s!", "World");

Try it Yourself »

Note: You will find more "Try it Yourself" examples at the bottom of this page.


Definition and Usage

The printf() method outputs a formatted string.

Data from the additional arguments is formatted and written into placeholders in the formatted string, which are marked by a % symbol. The way in which arguments are formatted depends on the sequence of characters that follows the % symbol.

Placeholders

The placeholders have the form %[arg$][flags][width][.precision]conversion. The components in [square brackets] are optional.

An explanation of each of the components:

  • arg$ - Optional. A number followed by a $ sign which indicates which of the additional arguments to use, argument numbers start at 1. This can be replaced with a < which specifies that the argument from the previous placeholder should be used.
  • flags - Optional. A sequence of any of the following characters:
    • - - Makes the output left-justified by adding any padding spaces to the right instead of to the left.
    • + - Causes positive numbers to always be prefixed with "+".
    • - (A space character) This prefixes a space to positive numbers, primarily so that the digits can be lined up with the digits of negative numbers.
    • 0 - Pads numbers with zeroes on the left.
    • , - Groups digits (for example by thousands) and puts separators between the groups.
  • width - Optional. A whole number specifying the minimum number of characters that the output should occupy. If necessary spaces are added to the right to reach this number, or to the left if the - flag is used.
  • .precision Optional. A . followed by a whole number indicating how many decimal digits to show in the formatted data.
  • conversion - Required. A character which indicates how an argument's data should be represented. If the character is uppercase the data will be formatted in uppercase where possible. The list of possible characters is shown in the table below.

List of conversions

Character Conversion Description
% Percent Displays a literal "%" character in the output.
n Line break Displays a line break in the output.
b or B Boolean Displays the boolean value of an argument as "true" or "false". If "B" is used then it displays "TRUE" or "FALSE" instead.
c or C Unicode character Displays a unicode character representation of the argument. For whole numbers, this is the unicode character that corresponds to the number. If "C" is used then the character will be converted to uppercase where possible.
s or S String Displays the default string representation of the argument. If "S" is used then the string will be converted to uppercase where possible.
d Decimal integer Represents a whole number as a decimal integer.
h or H Unsigned hexadecimal integer Represents an argument's binary data as an unsigned hexadecimal integer. If "H" is used then digits A to F are shown in uppercase.

Note: For any data other than positive integers this does not represent its real value.

o Octal integer Represents a whole number as an octal integer. The "#" flag will prefix the number with "0".
x or X Hexadecimal integer Represents a whole number as a hexadecimal integer. The "#" flag will prefix the number with "0x". If "X" is used then digits A to F and the letter X are shown in uppercase.
e or E Scientific notation Represents a floating point number in scientific notation. If "E" is used then the letter "E" of the representation will be uppercase. The "#" flag will force a decimal point even if there are no decimal digits.
f Floating point number Represents a floating point number. The "#" flag will force a decimal point even if there are no decimal digits.
g or G General number Displays the shortest representation between f and e or E for a floating point number.
a or A Hexadecimal floating point number Display a floating point number's internal representation with hexadecimal digits.
t or T Time or date Displays a formatted date or time. The t or T must be followed by one more character indicating how the date or time should be formatted. If "T" is used then text parts of a date or time such as "JANUARY" will be uppercase.

The following characters can be used for date and time formatting:

  • H - 24-hour format of an hour (00 to 23)
  • I - 12-hour format of an hour (01 to 12)
  • k - 24-hour format of an hour (0 to 23)
  • l (lowercase 'L') - 12-hour format of an hour (1 to 12)
  • M - Minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59)
  • S - Seconds with leading zeros (00 to 59) (The value 60 may occur for leap seconds)
  • L - Milliseconds with leading zeroes (000 to 999)
  • N - Nanoseconds with leading zeroes (000000000 to 999999999)
  • p - "am", "pm", "AM" or "PM" to indicate morning or afternoon
  • z - Difference to Greenwich time (Example: -0800)
  • Z - Timezone abbreviations (Examples: EST, MDT)
  • s - The seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
  • Q - The milliseconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
  • B - A full textual representation of a month (January through December)
  • b or h - A short textual representation of a month (three letters)
  • A - A full textual representation of a day (Example: Monday)
  • a - A short textual representation of a day (Example: Mon)
  • C - The first two digits of the year (For 1970, "19" would be shown)
  • Y - A four digit representation of a year
  • y - A two digit representation of a year
  • j - The day of the year with leading zeroes (001 to 366)
  • m - A numeric representation of a month (01 to 12)
  • d - The day of the month (01 to 31)
  • e - The day of the month without leading zeros (1 to 31)
  • R - The time in 24-hour format (Example: 21:30)
  • T - The time in 24-hour format with seconds (Example: 21:30:02)
  • r - The time in 12-hour format with seconds (Example: 09:30:02 PM) ("AM" and "PM" are always uppercase)
  • D - Date representation as month/day/year (Example: 12/17/23)
  • F - Date representation as year-month-day (Example: 2023-12-17)
  • c - Full date and time (Example: Thu Mar 28 10:51:00 EDT 2024)

Syntax

System.out.printf(locale, formatString, args)

Parameter Values

Parameter Description
locale Optional. A locale used to determine some of the formatting, such as which characters are used for decimal points and grouping separators.
formatString Required. A string containing placeholders for the additional arguments indicating how to format them
args Optional. Any number of additional arguments to the method, their values can be formatted and displayed in the formatString.

Technical Details

Returns: A PrintStream object.
Throws: IllegalFormatException - if the format string contains an invalid placeholder or a placeholder isn't compatible with the data type of the argument.
Java version: 1.5

More Examples

Example

Print a formatted text containing a string and an integer:

System.out.printf("Hello %s! One kilobyte is %,d bytes.", "World", 1024);

Try it Yourself »

Example

Format a floating point number in different ways:

// Default
System.out.printf("%f%n", 123456.78);

// Two decimal digits
System.out.printf("%.2f%n", 123456.78);

// No decimal digits
System.out.printf("%.0f%n", 123456.78);

// No decimal digits but keep the decimal point
System.out.printf("%#.0f%n", 123456.78);

// Group digits
System.out.printf("%,.2f%n", 123456.78);

// Scientific notation with two digits of precision
System.out.printf("%.2e", 123456.78);

Try it Yourself »

Example

A placeholder which uses all of the components:

System.out.printf("%2$,3.2f %1$s", "meters", 1260.5052);

This is how each part of the placeholder %2$,3.2f works:

  • 2$ indicates that the value of the second argument is used
  • , indicates that digits should be grouped (usually by thousands)
  • 3 indicates that the representation of the data should be at least 3 characters long
  • .2 indicates that there should be two digits after the decimal point
  • f indicates that the data is being represented as a floating point number

Try it Yourself »

Example

Use arguments in a different order:

System.out.printf("%3$c %2$c %1$c", 'a', 'b', 'c');

Try it Yourself »

Example

Format a date from a Unix timestamp:

long date = 1711638903488L; // Unix timestamp (number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970)

// Time
System.out.printf("%tl:%<tM %<tp%n", date);

// Month and day
System.out.printf("%tB %<te%n", date);

// Full date representation
System.out.printf("%tc%n", date);

Try it Yourself »

Example

Represent characters from their unicode code points:

// Represent characters from their unicode code points
System.out.printf("%c%c%c%c%c%n", 72, 101, 108, 108, 111);

// Force unicode characters to uppercase
System.out.printf("%C%C%C%C%C", 72, 101, 108, 108, 111);

Try it Yourself »


❮ Output Methods
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