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Java Java Basics Perfecting the Prototype Censoring Words - Using String Equality

Chaz Hall
Chaz Hall
1,970 Points
Posted by Chaz Hall
Chaz Hall
1,970 Points

\n and prinIn() Question

As I review everything I learned so far I noticed that \n starts a new line from a String and prinIn() states it gives you another line as well. I'm unsure why you would use one over the other. I'd appreciate any help!

1 Answer

dman10345
dman10345
7,109 Points

There's no true benefit of one over the other specifically. However \n can be a little more flexible and universal where as println is kind of concrete. Where as println offers only a new line, that is it. What about if you wanted to use printf but still needed a new line?

String name = "Dylan";
System.out.printf("Hello, my name is %s. Nice to meet you!\n", name);

This will allow you to start a new line incase you have another print statement, so it does not appear on the same line.

Another thought is what if you needed to start a new line for a bunch of statements. Well you could use multiple println statements or you could use one and separate them with the \n characters.

String name = "Dylan";
String hobby = "Programming";
String country = "USA";

System.out.printf("Hello, my name is %s, and I enjoy %s.\nI was also born and raised in the %s", name, hobby, country);

This would output the following

Hello, my name is Dylan, and I enjoy Programming.
I was also born and raised in the USA

There is a time and place for each one but as stated above \n is far more flexible and universal.

Hope this helps. Happy coding!

Chaz Hall
Chaz Hall
1,970 Points
Chaz Hall
Chaz Hall
1,970 Points

So in most cases, at least at this point in my programming career, \n has much more value and flexibility whereas printIn is limited to the functions of printf, except that it just adds a new line automatically? How would the above code look if you used a printIn statement? (I hope my terms are correct)?

dman10345
dman10345
7,109 Points

Kind of, println and printf are two separate functions. Standing for print line and print format, printf allows your to use the %s characters to pass variables in as arguments.

Println simply prints a string with a new line, you can concatenate variables into it however if you'd like using the + operator.

If you were to do it in a println statement it would look like:

System.out.println("Hello, my name is " + name + " and I enjoy " + hobby + ".");
System.out.println("I was also born and raised in the " + country);

The above will provide the same results as the printf statement above and I'm not 100% sure but I think using two println statements would create more overheard in your program then a single printf statement, but I could be wrong. On a simplistic note, to my the println statements just look messier and less organized whereas the printf is straight forward and mapped out nicely.