Is there some easy way to pad Strings in Java?
Seems like something that should be in some StringUtil-like API, but I can't find anything that does this.
30 Answers
Since Java 1.5, String.format() can be used to left/right pad a given string.
public static String padRight(String s, int n) {
return String.format("%-" + n + "s", s);
}
public static String padLeft(String s, int n) {
return String.format("%" + n + "s", s);
}
...
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
System.out.println(padRight("Howto", 20) + "*");
System.out.println(padLeft("Howto", 20) + "*");
}
And the output is:
Howto *
Howto*
Apache StringUtils has several methods: leftPad, rightPad, center and repeat.
But please note that — as others have mentioned and demonstrated in this answer — String.format() and the Formatter classes in the JDK are better options. Use them over the commons code.
Have a look at org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils#rightPad(String str, int size, char padChar).
But the algorithm is very simple (pad right up to size chars):
public String pad(String str, int size, char padChar)
{
StringBuilder padded = new StringBuilder(str);
while (padded.length() < size)
{
padded.append(padChar);
}
return padded.toString();
}
Besides Apache Commons, also see String.format which should be able to take care of simple padding (e.g. with spaces).
Since Java 11, String.repeat(int) can be used to left/right pad a given string.
System.out.println("*".repeat(5)+"apple");
System.out.println("apple"+"*".repeat(5));
Output:
*****apple
apple*****
You can reduce the per-call overhead by retaining the padding data, rather than rebuilding it every time:
public class RightPadder {
private int length;
private String padding;
public RightPadder(int length, String pad) {
this.length = length;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(pad);
while (sb.length() < length) {
sb.append(sb);
}
padding = sb.toString();
}
public String pad(String s) {
return (s.length() < length ? s + padding : s).substring(0, length);
}
}
As an alternative, you can make the result length a parameter to the pad(...) method. In that case do the adjustment of the hidden padding in that method instead of in the constructor.
(Hint: For extra credit, make it thread-safe! ;-)
java.util.Formatter will do left and right padding. No need for odd third party dependencies (would you want to add them for something so trivial).
[I've left out the details and made this post 'community wiki' as it is not something I have a need for.]
This is an efficient utility class for left pad, right pad, center pad and zero fill of strings in Java.
package com.example;
/**
* Utility class for left pad, right pad, center pad and zero fill.
*/
public final class StringPadding {
public static String left(String string, int length, char fill) {
if (string.length() < length) {
char[] chars = string.toCharArray();
char[] output = new char[length];
int delta = length - chars.length;
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
if (i < delta) {
output[i] = fill;
} else {
output[i] = chars[i - delta];
}
}
return new String(output);
}
return string;
}
public static String right(String string, int length, char fill) {
if (string.length() < length) {
char[] chars = string.toCharArray();
char[] output = new char[length];
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
if (i < chars.length) {
output[i] = chars[i];
} else {
output[i] = fill;
}
}
return new String(output);
}
return string;
}
public static String center(String string, int length, char fill) {
if (string.length() < length) {
char[] chars = string.toCharArray();
int delta = length - chars.length;
int a = (delta % 2 == 0) ? delta / 2 : delta / 2 + 1;
int b = a + chars.length;
char[] output = new char[length];
for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
if (i < a) {
output[i] = fill;
} else if (i < b) {
output[i] = chars[i - a];
} else {
output[i] = fill;
}
}
return new String(output);
}
return string;
}
public static String zerofill(String string, int length) {
return left(string, length, '0');
}
private StringPadding() {
}
/**
* For tests!
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
String string = "123";
char blank = ' ';
System.out.println("left pad: [" + StringPadding.left(string, 10, blank) + "]");
System.out.println("right pad: [" + StringPadding.right(string, 10, blank) + "]");
System.out.println("center pad: [" + StringPadding.center(string, 10, blank) + "]");
System.out.println("zero fill: [" + StringPadding.zerofill(string, 10) + "]");
}
}
This is the output:
left pad: [ 123]
right pad: [123 ]
center pad: [ 123 ]
zero fill: [0000000123]
Another solution utilizing recursion.
This is compatible with all JDK versions and no external libraries are required:
private static String addPadding(final String str, final int desiredLength, final String padBy) {
String result = str;
if (str.length() >= desiredLength) {
return result;
} else {
result += padBy;
return addPadding(result, desiredLength, padBy);
}
}
NOTE: This solution will append the padding, with a little tweak you can prefix the pad value.
Here's a parallel version for those of you that have very long Strings :-)
int width = 100;
String s = "129018";
CharSequence padded = IntStream.range(0,width)
.parallel()
.map(i->i-(width-s.length()))
.map(i->i<0 ? '0' :s.charAt(i))
.collect(StringBuilder::new, (sb,c)-> sb.append((char)c), (sb1,sb2)->sb1.append(sb2));
Generalizing Eko's answer (Java 11+) a bit:
public class StringUtils {
public static String padLeft(String s, char fill, int padSize) {
if (padSize < 0) {
var err = "padSize must be >= 0 (was " + padSize + ")";
throw new java.lang.IllegalArgumentException(err);
}
int repeats = Math.max(0, padSize - s.length());
return Character.toString(fill).repeat(repeats) + s;
}
public static String padRight(String s, char fill, int padSize) {
if (padSize < 0) {
var err = "padSize must be >= 0 (was " + padSize + ")";
throw new java.lang.IllegalArgumentException(err);
}
int repeats = Math.max(0, padSize - s.length());
return s + Character.toString(fill).repeat(repeats);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(padLeft("", 'x', 5)); // => xxxxx
System.out.println(padLeft("1", 'x', 5)); // => xxxx1
System.out.println(padLeft("12", 'x', 5)); // => xxx12
System.out.println(padLeft("123", 'x', 5)); // => xx123
System.out.println(padLeft("1234", 'x', 5)); // => x1234
System.out.println(padLeft("12345", 'x', 5)); // => 12345
System.out.println(padLeft("123456", 'x', 5)); // => 123456
System.out.println(padRight("", 'x', 5)); // => xxxxx
System.out.println(padRight("1", 'x', 5)); // => 1xxxx
System.out.println(padRight("12", 'x', 5)); // => 12xxx
System.out.println(padRight("123", 'x', 5)); // => 123xx
System.out.println(padRight("1234", 'x', 5)); // => 1234x
System.out.println(padRight("12345", 'x', 5)); // => 12345
System.out.println(padRight("123456", 'x', 5)); // => 123456
System.out.println(padRight("1", 'x', -1)); // => throws
}
}
For what it's worth, I was looking for something that would pad around and then I decided to code it myself. It's fairly clean and you can easily derive padLeft and padRight from this
/**
* Pads around a string, both left and right using pad as the template, aligning to the right or left as indicated.
* @param a the string to pad on both left and right
* @param pad the template to pad with, it can be of any size
* @param width the fixed width to output
* @param alignRight if true, when the input string is of odd length, adds an extra pad char to the left, so values are right aligned
* otherwise add an extra pad char to the right. When the input is of even length no extra chars will be inserted
* @return the input param a padded around.
*/
public static String padAround(String a, String pad, int width, boolean alignRight) {
if (pad.length() == 0)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Pad cannot be an empty string!");
int delta = width - a.length();
if (delta < 1)
return a;
int half = delta / 2;
int remainder = delta % 2;
String padding = pad.repeat(((half+remainder)/pad.length()+1)); // repeating the padding to occupy all possible space
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(width);
// sb.append( padding.substring(0,half + (alignRight ? 0 : remainder)));
sb.append(padding, 0, half + (alignRight ? 0 : remainder));
sb.append(a);
// sb.append( padding.substring(0,half + (alignRight ? remainder : 0)));
sb.append(padding, 0, half + (alignRight ? remainder : 0));
return sb.toString();
}
While it should be fairly fast it could prolly benefit from using a few finals here and there.
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