Lesson 1C – Using the printf and

[Link] commands

By John B. Owen
All rights reserved
©2011, revised 2014
Table of Contents
• Objectives
• printf command
• printf examples
• ABCs of printf
• The rest of the story
• String variables and [Link]
• Special Calendar feature – brief intro
• Lesson Summary / Labs
• Contact Information for supplementary materials
Objective #1
• The student will understand and
apply some of the uses of the
printf command which help control
more precisely the format of
program output.
• CS1 TEKS 126.33c2(E) improve numeric display by optimizing data
visualization;
Objective #2
• The student will also understand
and apply the [Link]
method, which works in a similar
way to printf.
• CS1 TEKS 126.33c2(E) improve numeric display by optimizing data
visualization;
Objective #3
• The student will receive a brief
introduction to variables, how to
assign values, and how to use them
in conjunction with printf and
[Link].
• CS1 TEKS 126.33c5(P) demonstrate an understanding of the concept of a
variable;
Objective #4
• The student will learn a little bit
about a cool feature of Java called
the Calendar class
History of printf
• The printf command has been around
for quite some time, was originally part
of the C and C++ programming
language function libraries, and only
just recently (last few years) was
incorporated into the newest version
of the JAVA language.
• It is very useful and easy to use to
create specially formatted output.
Formatting output with printf
• Formatting your output means
controlling the appearance, such as
how many decimal places in a value,
whether or not something is left-
aligned or right-aligned, outputting a
decimal value in scientific notation,
and various other situations.
• This lesson shows to a certain degree
most of the printf format functions
Two parameters for printf
• Unlike print or println, each of which
receives only one parameter, printf
requires at least two, and sometimes
more.
• The first one is always a format string,
which contains symbols and letters that
have special meanings, called format
specifiers.
• The second is an argument, or value, and
when the program is executed is inserted
into the place of the format specifier in
the format string.
Example #1 of the printf statement

The two parameters of this

command are indicated. The
first one is the format string
containing one format
specifier. The second is the
data value, sometimes
referred to as the “argument”
for the format specifier.
Example #1 of the printf statement

A format specifier always starts with the % sign,

and is followed by a letter. The %s format
specifier shown in this example is designed to
receive a string data value, but actually can
receive ANY type of data, and here’s why….
Example #1 of the printf statement

The reason that %s can receive any type of data is

that all Java data types can be represented as a
string, therefore when the compiler sees this
situation, it automatically converts a non-string
value into a String, thus enabling the %s format
specifier to receive it.
Example #1 of the printf statement

In this example, the string

argument, “George”, is
inserted into the position of
the %s, as you can see in the
output.
Example #2 - printf

Perhaps this example will show

the process more clearly.
Example #3 - printf Or maybe even this one…

The usefulness of this

command will become more
evident as your programs
become more complex,
especially as you incorporate
variables (you’ll learn about
those soon).
Example #4 - printf In this example, there are five %s format
specifiers in the format string, and all of
them receive data arguments OTHER than
strings, demonstrating why %s is the
“universal recipient” format specifier in
the printf family.
Example #4 - printf
The argument data types in this example,
in order of appearance, are: integer,
decimal, boolean (true or false), null
(which literally means “nothing” – more
about this later), and a single character
(always in single quotes, as opposed to
double quotes for strings).
Example #5 - printf
Here you can see that it is possible to
rearrange the order of the parameters or
arguments, which in turn rearranges the
output order in the same way. Compare
this slide carefully with the previous one.
The ABCs of printf
The next several slides discuss the myriad of
format specifiers that are available with the
Java printf method.
HOWEVER…
for the most part, only three will be used on a
common and regular basis - %s for strings, %d
for integers, and %f for decimal values
(floating point values).
Master these three, and just be aware of the
rest in case you ever need to use them.
 Although %s can handle many different types
The ABCs of printf of data values, there are other format
specifiers designated for the different data
types which create special output formats.

Below are examples of the first six in the printf

“alphabet”, some used more often in typical
programming than others.
The ABCs of printf
• %a is for floating point hex values – not
used that often
• %b is for boolean values – true and false –
not used that often in output statements
• %c is for characters, single letters in single
quotes – used some
The ABCs of printf
• %d is for integer values – used
quite often
• %e is to express decimal values in
Scientific Notation – used some
• %f is for decimal values – used
quite often
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
Although %f is the primary format specifier
for decimal values, all of these provide useful
decimal value output formats.

Carefully study the next few slides to see if

you can decipher the difference between
them…
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
Hint: Count how many total characters are in
each output value.
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
Notice that %e and %f always have six places after
the decimal point, but %g is different.
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
The output for %g always has seven total
decimal places, including the decimal point!
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
Now, watch carefully the output of the next
three slides…
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
Do you see a difference?
%e %f %g – decimal specifiers
Do you see a dramatic difference?
%e %f %g – comparison
As the number of digits in the whole
number portion of the value increased,
the different formats adjusted
accordingly.
• %e always output in scientific
notation, always with six digits after
the decimal point (using %E shows a
capital letter in the output)
• %f always output the full value with
six decimal places
%e %f %g – comparison
• The %g output format always
maintained seven total
places, including the decimal
point, UNTIL there were six
digits in the whole number
portion of the value, at which
point it only output that part,
omitting the fractional part
altogether.
%e %f %g – comparison
• When the front part of the
value exceeded six places, the
%g format switched over to
scientific notation, again
maintaining seven total digits
in the number portion of the
output.
 The rest of the format specifiers
are a bit cryptic, but will become
clearer once you learn those
The rest of the story… concepts later on.
• %h outputs the hash code of a
value
• %n is way to create a linefeed in
a printf statement, like \n does
• %o outputs the octal (base
eight) value of a number
The rest of the story…
• %x outputs the hexadecimal
(base sixteen) value of a
number
• %% is an escape sequence for
the % character to be output
The rest of the story…
Note carefully that neither %n
nor %% require a matching
argument in the parameter list.
String variables Let’s go back to the beginning
for a moment…

Below is an example, similar to

the first one in this lesson,
which first creates a String
variable called s, assigns to it
the value “George”, and then
uses it in a printf statement.

We’ll learn in more detail

about variables in a later
lesson, but for now we’ll keep
it simple.
 Variables provide more
String variables flexibility, in that changes can be
made in output statements more
easily, as you can see in this
example.
 The variable s can be changed, or
String variables reassigned, during the course of a
program, and then reused in the
output statement, but producing
a different output based on the
change that was made!
 The [Link] command works just
like printf. In the example below, the
entire printf-style parameter list is
[Link] assigned to a string variable using
[Link], and then that variable is
output.
This process provides even more
flexibility for your programs as they
increase in complexity.
 The example below shows a brief
summary of several of the concepts we
have learned about formatting output.
[Link]
The + signs enable you to “cut” and
“reconnect” strings that get too long for
the editor window, but still keep them
together as one long string.

Study this example carefully!

printf, revisited
The same technique works for printf as
well…
Special Calendar feature
• To complete your introduction to the
basic features of printf, let’s talk briefly
about a cool Calendar feature that is
quite useful.
• The format specifier used is %t, which
must then be followed by another
letter, like ‘c’, or ‘s’, or ‘Y’, just to
mention a few.
• There are 33 different Calendar related
formats available with this feature.
 Here are examples of the
three formats just mentioned.
Special Calendar feature Also notice on line 1 of the
program a new command.
This is where the Calendar
class “lives” and is necessary
to include at the beginning of
the program when using this
feature.
Special Calendar feature
• Later on, a complete lesson will be
devoted just to this class and ways
to use it in your programming.
Lesson Summary
• This lesson introduced the printf
command with a variety of format
specifiers available for output
control.
• It also showed how the
[Link] command works,
using the format string process in a
slightly different way, using
variables.
Lesson Lab1C-1
Write a program that uses the printf
and [Link] commands to
output twice a sentence of your own
creation, similar to the “cherry tree”
sentence you saw earlier in the lesson,
once using [Link], and then
again using printf.
Lesson Lab1C-1
You are to use three variables (as
shown in earlier program examples):
• a string,
• an int,
• and a boolean,

using all three in a sentence using the

printf format specifiers.
Lesson Lab1C-1
• First assign beginning values to
each variable, build a sentence
using printf.
• Then reassign the variables with
different values, using the
[Link] process to assign it to
a string variable, and then to output
that sentence.
Lesson Lab1C-1
• Below is an example, with the
source code provided on the next
slide.
Lesson Lab1C-1
• Here is the source code for the
previous example. Use it to help
you create your own sentences.
Lesson Lab1C-2
• For this lab, assign your name to a
String variable, create a Calendar
object as shown earlier in the
lesson, and output your name with
the current date and time, like this:
Lesson Lab1C-2
• Here is the source code for this
program.
Lesson Lab1C-3
• Write a program to demonstrate the use
of the %e, %f, and %g formats for
decimal values.
• Create a double variable and assign to it a
very large decimal value.
• Output that value in all three formats
using printf.
• Reassign to the variable a very small
decimal value, and then output in all
three formats, this time using the
[Link] process.
Lesson Lab1C-3
• Here is an example,
with the source
code shown.
CONGRATULATIONS!
• You can now more precisely control
the format of your program output
using the special printf and
[Link] commands.
• You also know about String
variables.
• Now go on to Lesson 1D for more
about printf.
 Thank you, and have fun!

To order supplementary materials for this lesson, such as

lab solutions, quizzes, tests, or UIL-style contest reviews, fill
out the order form on the next page and send to
John B. Owen
captainjbo@[Link]