Java: Decimal Format to Easily Create Custom Output

Contributed by William_Wilson April 5, 2006  
Tagged: Java programming

The Decimal Format class is a poorly explained class in the java Documentation so i will clear up a little of it with an example.

you first need to import the DecimalFormat class:

import java.text.DecimalFormat;


then create a format object. this object can be used with doubles, as it uses a decimal. It uses a template String to teach Java how to ouput the objects.
*This example will be used as a standard format of money:

DecimalFormat money = new DecimalFormat("$0.00");


Now that you have a money object. (declared either globally or locally) you can now format your objects
*Note this example uses only 2 decimal places and a $, but any symbols or length is available.

As an example of prniting a double value:

double amount = 4.333333333;
System.out.println(money.format(amount));


what will be printed is: $4.33 as described by the template, this handles your percision and dollar sign with a single template!

Questions/Comments: william_a_wilson@hotmail.com
-William. § (marvin_gohan)