How to align mutliple columns properly using print?

[beu curt]

Hello

I have this output that looks like this:
a         cd`           fg           ij
a         cd             fg           ij
a         cd             fg           ij
ab         cd             fg           ij
ab         cd             fg           i j 
ab         cd             fg           ij
ab         cd             fg           ij
ab         cde             fgh         ij
ab         cde             fgh         ij

I want it to look like this:
a         cd`           fg           ij
a         cd            fg           ij
a         cd            fg           ij
ab        cd            fg           ij
ab        cd            fg           ij 
ab        cd            fg           ij
ab        cd            fg           ij
ab        cde           fgh          ij
ab        cde           fgh          ij  

The values are in double. How can attain that format?
Thak you very much.
LOL I can't make the column straight But what I am trying to do is align all the elements.

[David Coons]

This sounds like a job for printf()!

[Campbell Ritchie]

beu curt wrote: . . . I can't make the column straight . . .

I managed it

[beu curt]

I'm still not able to align the elements.

Here is what I am doing

    double[][] table = new double[][] {{x1,x4,x7},{x2,x5,x8},{x3,x6,x9}};

        for (int r=0; r<table.length; r++) {
            for (int c=0; c<table[r].length; c++) {
                System.out.printf("\t" + table[r][c]);
     }
                     System.out.println("");
       }

If the answer to equation exceeds place value compare to the element on its side, it messes up the pattern.
When I tried to use %f it gave me an error.

------------------------------------
        1.0        244.0        24.0
        22432.0        42.0        24224.0
        244.0        24.0        4242.0

I managed it

Did you use printf?

[fred rosenberger]

When I tried to use %f it gave me an error.

How exactly did you try using %f? What was your code?

And what EXACTLY was the error?

We can't help you fix what was wrong if you don't tell us.

[beu curt]

Here is what I am trying

  double[][] table = new double[][] {{x1,x4,x7},{x2,x5,x8},{x3,x6,x9}};

        for (int r=0; r<table.length; r++) {
            for (int c=0; c<table[r].length; c++) {
                System.out.printf("\t%f" + table[r][c]);
     }
                     System.out.println("");
       }

Here is my error

[color=red]Exception in thread "main" java.util.MissingFormatArgumentException: Format specifier 'f'[/color]

What I am trying do is align all the elements regardless of the place value.

[fred rosenberger]

I am not an expert with Java's printf, but have used C's.

the %f is sort of like a method argument.

if table[r][c] is the value you want to print in place of the %f, don't use the '+' character, but a comma:


try this:

 System.out.printf("\t%f",  table[r][c]);

[beu curt]

fred rosenberger wrote:

try this:

 System.out.printf("\t%f",  table[r][c]);

It stopped the error but it did not align the elements. Thank you

[fred rosenberger]

note that normally, you specify what teh format should be. for example,

"%6.2f" will (i believe) force a 6 character wide number with two to the right of the decimal point. Have you read up on how to use printf?