Limiting the number of characters in a string, and chopping off the rest

Question

I need to create a summary table at the end of a log with some values that are obtained inside a class. The table needs to be printed in fixed-width format. I have the cod

Answer 1

You can also use String.format("%3.3s", "abcdefgh"). The first digit is the minimum length (the string will be left padded if it's shorter), the second digit is the maxiumum length and the string will be truncated if it's longer. So

System.out.printf("'%3.3s' '%3.3s'", "abcdefgh", "a");

will produce

'abc' '  a'

(you can remove quotes, obviously).

Answer 2

You can use the Apache Commons StringUtils.substring(String str, int start, int end) static method, which is also null safe.

See: http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-lang/javadocs/api-2.6/org/apache/commons/lang/StringUtils.html#substring%28java.lang.String,%20int,%20int%29

and http://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-lang/javadocs/api-2.6/src-html/org/apache/commons/lang/StringUtils.html#line.1961