Question

How does one format the following:

From this:

1: My street
2: 1232321
3: Hello there world!
4: A really really really long word!

To this:

1:                           My street
2:                             1232321
3:                  Hello there world!
4:   A really really really long word!

I think it has something to do with String.format() and a bunch of random chars in it!

Answer 1

You can first split your string to get 1: and My Street separately, and then format them: –

String str = "1: My street";
String str2 = "3: Hello there world!";

String[] arr = str.split("(?<=:) ");
String[] arr2 = str2.split("(?<=:) ");

System.out.printf("%s%30s\n", arr[0], arr[1]);
System.out.printf("%s%30s", arr2[0], arr2[1]);

Output : –

1:                     My street
3:            Hello there world!

You can do this with String#substring method also, to get the two parts separately.

System.out.printf("%s%30s\n", str.substring(0, 2), str.substring(3));