How to Print a New Line in String in Java

1. Introduction

In Java, printing a new line within a string is a common requirement, especially when formatting output to make it more readable or to adhere to a specific data format. The newline character (\n) is widely used for this purpose, signaling to the console or any text viewer that the text following the newline character should appear on a new line. Additionally, the System.out.println() method in Java inherently appends a newline character at the end of the output, automatically moving subsequent output to a new line. This blog post will explore how to include new lines within strings and print them to the console.

2. Program Steps

1. Declare a string that contains text and new line characters.

2. Use System.out.println() to print the string to the console.

3. Demonstrate an alternative way to print multiple lines using multiple System.out.println() calls.

3. Code Program

public class NewLineInString {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Step 1: Declaring a string with new line characters
        String multiLineString = "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3";

        // Step 2: Using System.out.println() to print the string
        System.out.println(multiLineString);

        // Step 3: Demonstrating an alternative approach using multiple println calls
        System.out.println("Line 1");
        System.out.println("Line 2");
        System.out.println("Line 3");
    }
}

Output:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3

Explanation:

1. The program begins by declaring a String variable named multiLineString. This variable contains three lines of text, with each line separated by the newline character \n. This character tells Java to insert a new line at each occurrence.

2. System.out.println(multiLineString) is then called to print the entire string to the console. The console interprets the \n characters as new line instructions, and as a result, each part of the string separated by \n appears on a new line.

3. As an alternative to embedding \n characters within a single string, the program also demonstrates printing multiple lines by making successive calls to System.out.println(), with each call printing a single line of text. This method automatically appends a new line after each line of text, resulting in the same multi-line output.

4. Both approaches effectively produce a multi-line output in the console. The choice between using \n within a single string or multiple System.out.println() calls depends on the specific needs of your program, such as whether the text is dynamically generated or if readability and maintainability are priorities.