displaying decimal numbers

[H.A.N. Schultz]

I need to show decimal numbers in columns with the decimal points
aligned. I can format the numbers to 2 decimal places but using
tabs to align the columns they are always left justified and I
need to show them with right justification. I thought FieldPosition
would do it but I can't figure out how to use it.

[Michael Dunn]

I don't know if there's anything in the API, but try this (for fonts like courier)

class testing
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    String pad = "        ";
    String str[] = {"123.45","4567.89","1.23"};
    String display;
    for(int i = 0; i < str.length; i++)
    {
      display = pad.substring(0,pad.length()-str[i].length())+str[i];
      System.out.println(display);
    }
    System.exit(0);
  }
}

[Stan James]

I think you can get by with a little less arithmetic:

display = (pad + str[i]).substring(str[i].length());

If you want to generalize this to a reusable routine, you can't always have a pad string of the right number of blanks. This might be worth while:

public String right( string aString, int aLength, String aPadWith )
{
   String lResult = aString;
   while(lResult.length() < aLength)
      lResult = aPadWith + lResult;
   return lResult;
}

I left out some details ... what if aPadWith is more than one character long? Would that be useful? Could your string wind up too long? Could we get more efficient than concatenating strings in a loop? I leave these questions to entertain you late into the coding night
[ October 06, 2003: Message edited by: Stan James ]