What is the printf() method?

What is the printf() method?

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The printf() method is used to output a formatted string to the console. This method automatically uses the Formatter to create a formatted string. The printf() method is very similar to the format() method present in the Formatter class. This method is present in both the PrintWriter and PrintStream classes.

The printf() method has the following general forms:

• printf(String fmt, Object...args)
: This form writes the args to the standard output in the format specified by fmt. It uses the default locale.


• printf (Local loc, String fmt, Object...args)
: This form allows a user to specify his own locale.

In both the above forms, the return type of the methods can be either the PrintWriter class or the PrintStream class. In both the forms of the printf() method, variable-arguments are used. This is the reason why printf() was not used in the earlier versions of Java, as earlier versions did not support varargs.

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