CODEWITHSUNDEEP
java
Rakesh
Rakesh

Reputation: 4334

Print multiple lines output in java without using a new line character

this is one of the interview question. I am supposed to print multiple lines of output on command line, without using the newline(\n) character in java. I tried googling for this, didn't find appropriate answers. If i am printing 5 numbers, then it should print in the following fashion. But I am not supposed to use the newline character nor loops either. I have to print this using a single println() statement. Can you give me some ideas ? Thanks !

1
2
3
4
5

Upvotes: 1

Views: 46205

Answers (9)

root
root

Reputation: 491

ANSI terminal escape codes can do the trick.

Aside: Since System.out is a PrintStream, it may not be able to support the escape codes.

However, you can define your own println(msg) function, and make one call to that. Might be cheating, but unless they explicitly say System.out.println, you're golden (hell, even if they do, you can define your own object named System in the local scope using a class defined outside your function, give it a field out with a function println(msg) and you're still scot-free).

Upvotes: 0

Thomas
Thomas

Reputation: 5094

Probably cheating based on the requirements, but technically only 1 println statement and no loops.

public int recursivePrint(int number)
{
  if (number >=5 )
    return number;
  else
    System.out.println(recursivePrint(number++));
}

Upvotes: 1

Chandra Sekhar
Chandra Sekhar

Reputation: 19500

The ASCII value of new Line is 10. So use this

char line = 10;
System.out.print("1" + line + "2" + line ......);

Upvotes: 0

wattostudios
wattostudios

Reputation: 8774

There are many ways to achieve this...

One alternative to using '\n' is to output the byte value for the character. So, an example to print out your list of the numbers 1-5 in your example...

char line = (char)10;
System.out.println("1" + line+ "2" + line+ "3" + line + "4" + line+ "5");

You could also build a byte[] array or char[] array and output that...

char line = (char)10;
char[] output = new char[9]{'1',line,'2',line,'3',line,'4',line,'5'};
System.out.println(new String(output));

Upvotes: 1

Perry Monschau
Perry Monschau

Reputation: 901

No loops, 1 println call, +flexibility:

public static void main (String[] args) {
    print(5);
}

final String newLine = System.getProperty("line.separator");
public void print(int fin) {
    System.out.println(printRec("",1,fin));
}
private String printRec(String s, int start, int fin) {
    if(start > fin)
        return s;
    s += start + newLine;
    return printRec(s, start+1, fin);
}

Upvotes: 0

anubhava
anubhava

Reputation: 786001

One way is this: Platform Independent

final String EOL = System.getProperty("line.separator");
System.out.println('1' + EOL + '2' + EOL + '3' + EOL + '4' + EOL + '5');

This is Platform Dependent

char eol = (char) 13;
System.out.println("" + '1' + eol + '2' + eol + '3' + eol + '4');

Upvotes: 2

Mister Smith
Mister Smith

Reputation: 28189

Ok, now I think I understand your question. What about this?

println(String.format("%d%n%d%n%d%n%d%n%d%n", 1, 2, 3, 4, 5));

Upvotes: 2

SimonSez
SimonSez

Reputation: 7769

If you're just not allowed of using \n and println() then you can get the systems line.separator, e.g.

String h = "Hello" + System.getProperty("line.separator") + "World!"

Hope this helped, have Fun!

Upvotes: 4

Zack Marrapese
Zack Marrapese

Reputation: 12091

You can do it recursively:

public void foo(int currNum) {
  if (currNum > 5) 
    return;
  println(currNum);
  foo(currNum + 1);
}

Then you are only using a single println and you aren't using a for or while loop.

Upvotes: 5

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