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Format Printing

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The printf method provides a powerful and succinct mechanism for solving many formatting problems.

The printf method

The printf method takes a formatting string followed by any number of additional parameters. The formatting string includes a number of escape sequences - each of these is substituted by the actual parameter given. 
%s  is used when a string is expected
%d  is used when an integer (or long) is expected
%f  is used when a floating point number is expected


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Using printf to align

We can format output involving fixed and variable components. Usually we align strings to the left and numbers to the right.


In the printf a number of values may follow the format string. These values are used up by % placeholders in the format string.

The format string is 
"Country: %-18s GDP: %,20d\n"
%-18s
the minus in -18 means align left,

the 18 means 18 characters are to be used, the s is for string.

%,20d
the comma means include , separator every three digits, the 20 means use 20 characters and align right, d is for decimal.
\n::This starts a new line.
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