Question

I’m using Java, and I was wondering if there is any advantage to using format over simple concatenation.

I would either format like this:
a = String.format("%s/hi", b);

or like this:
a = (b + "/hi");

Is there any advantage (other than cleanliness) of using one over the other?

Answer 1

Format can handle quite complex patterns and formatting, if you need them. I would personally go for readability over any perceived “performance” benefits for anything other than code used in a large loop. Who cares if your method creates a couple of objects that get garbage collected soon afterwards anyway?