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Java

upul jayalath
upul jayalath
1,294 Points
Posted by upul jayalath
upul jayalath
1,294 Points

System.out.println vs console.printf

Hi

I couldnt understand the exact difference between System.out.println method and console.printf method. I listened to the teacher's video and went through the similar question- but still it is not clear to me.

Are they same and do both methods print to the console? If they are different, what is the difference between them?

Thank you.

3 Answers

Bramyn Payne
Bramyn Payne
19,589 Points
Bramyn Payne
Bramyn Payne
19,589 Points

Hello!

Both methods are similar, but they are slightly different. Yes, they both print to the console.

System.out.println prints the input and then starts a new line.

However, System.out.printf is more powerful because it also lets you format the string that you would like to print.

For example:

System.out.printf("length of String %s is %d", "abcd", "abcd".length());

Would output:

length of String abcd is 4

It is a bit confusing at first, but just know that if you want to format the string as above, you need to use System.out.printf.

I hope this helps!

Bramyn Payne
Bramyn Payne
19,589 Points
Bramyn Payne
Bramyn Payne
19,589 Points

Hey!

Here is a link to a Treehouse discussion where Craig Dennis answers a similar question.

Ultimately, they would do the same thing, but using console will only print to the console. Using System.out would allow you to print output to something other than the console. Also, you can use System.out without importing anything. However, using console you would need this import statement import java.io.Console;.

Here is a link to Oracle's documentation. If you scroll down to the printf method, it basically says that is a convenience method to output to the console.

I hope that helps clear things up.

upul jayalath
upul jayalath
1,294 Points
upul jayalath
upul jayalath
1,294 Points

Thank you Bramyn.

From your explanation, I understand now System.out.println and System.out.printf (both are using 'out' static member field)

My concern is console.printf. console is a Console class object. Is this console.printf and System.out.printf same as well? If they are same, how the same printf method can be used in Console class's object and 'out' static member field?

Thank you for your help again.