How to use the toString method in Java?

Question

Can anybody explain to me the concept of the toString() method, defined in the Object class? How is it used, and what is its purpose?

Answer 1

Coding:

public class Test {

    public static void main(String args[]) {

        ArrayList a = new ArrayList();
        a.add(new Student("Steve", 12, "Daniel"));
        a.add(new Student("Sachin", 10, "Tendulkar"));

        System.out.println(a);

        display(a);

    }

    static void display(ArrayList stu) {

        stu.add(new Student("Yuvi", 12, "Bhajji"));

        System.out.println(stu);

    }

}

Student.java:

public class Student {

    public String name;

    public int id;

    public String email;

    Student() {

    }

    Student(String name, int id, String email) {

        this.name = name;
        this.id = id;
        this.email = email;

    }

     public String toString(){           //using these toString to avoid the output like this [com.steve.test.Student@6e1408, com.steve.test.Student@e53108]
          return name+" "+id+" "+email;     
         }  


    public String getName(){

        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name){

        this.name=name;
    }

    public int getId(){

        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id){

        this.id=id;
    }

    public String getEmail(){

        return email;

    }

    public void setEmail(String email){

        this.email=email;
    }
}

Output:

[Steve 12 Daniel, Sachin 10 Tendulkar]

[Steve 12 Daniel, Sachin 10 Tendulkar, Yuvi 12 Bhajji]

If you are not used toString() in Pojo(Student.java) class,you will get an output like [com.steve.test.Student@6e1408, com.steve.test.Student@e53108].To avoid these kind of issue we are using toString() method.