Module java.base
Package java.io

Class PrintStream

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Closeable, Flushable, Appendable, AutoCloseable
    Direct Known Subclasses:
    LogStream
    public class PrintStream
extends FilterOutputStream
implements Appendable, Closeable
    A PrintStream adds functionality to another output stream, namely the ability to print representations of various data values conveniently. Two other features are provided as well. Unlike other output streams, a PrintStream never throws an IOException; instead, exceptional situations merely set an internal flag that can be tested via the checkError method. Optionally, a PrintStream can be created so as to flush automatically; this means that the flush method is automatically invoked after a byte array is written, one of the println methods is invoked, or a newline character or byte ('\n') is written.

    All characters printed by a PrintStream are converted into bytes using the given encoding or charset, or platform's default character encoding if not specified. The PrintWriter class should be used in situations that require writing characters rather than bytes.

    This class always replaces malformed and unmappable character sequences with the charset's default replacement string. The CharsetEncoder class should be used when more control over the encoding process is required.

    Since:
    1.0

    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Constructor Description
      PrintStream​(File file)
      Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file.
      PrintStream​(File file, String csn)
      Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file and charset.
      PrintStream​(File file, Charset charset)
      Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file and charset.
      PrintStream​(OutputStream out)
      Creates a new print stream.
      PrintStream​(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush)
      Creates a new print stream.
      PrintStream​(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush, String encoding)
      Creates a new print stream.
      PrintStream​(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush, Charset charset)
      Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream, automatic line flushing and charset.
      PrintStream​(String fileName)
      Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file name.
      PrintStream​(String fileName, String csn)
      Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file name and charset.
      PrintStream​(String fileName, Charset charset)
      Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file name and charset.

    • Method Summary

      All Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods 
      Modifier and Type Method Description
      PrintStream append​(char c)
      Appends the specified character to this output stream.
      PrintStream append​(CharSequence csq)
      Appends the specified character sequence to this output stream.
      PrintStream append​(CharSequence csq, int start, int end)
      Appends a subsequence of the specified character sequence to this output stream.
      boolean checkError()
      Flushes the stream and checks its error state.
      protected void clearError()
      Clears the internal error state of this stream.
      void close()
      Closes the stream.
      void flush()
      Flushes the stream.
      PrintStream format​(String format, Object... args)
      Writes a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.
      PrintStream format​(Locale l, String format, Object... args)
      Writes a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.
      void print​(boolean b)
      Prints a boolean value.
      void print​(char c)
      Prints a character.
      void print​(char[] s)
      Prints an array of characters.
      void print​(double d)
      Prints a double-precision floating-point number.
      void print​(float f)
      Prints a floating-point number.
      void print​(int i)
      Prints an integer.
      void print​(long l)
      Prints a long integer.
      void print​(Object obj)
      Prints an object.
      void print​(String s)
      Prints a string.
      PrintStream printf​(String format, Object... args)
      A convenience method to write a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.
      PrintStream printf​(Locale l, String format, Object... args)
      A convenience method to write a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.
      void println()
      Terminates the current line by writing the line separator string.
      void println​(boolean x)
      Prints a boolean and then terminate the line.
      void println​(char x)
      Prints a character and then terminate the line.
      void println​(char[] x)
      Prints an array of characters and then terminate the line.
      void println​(double x)
      Prints a double and then terminate the line.
      void println​(float x)
      Prints a float and then terminate the line.
      void println​(int x)
      Prints an integer and then terminate the line.
      void println​(long x)
      Prints a long and then terminate the line.
      void println​(Object x)
      Prints an Object and then terminate the line.
      void println​(String x)
      Prints a String and then terminate the line.
      protected void setError()
      Sets the error state of the stream to true.
      void write​(byte[] buf, int off, int len)
      Writes len bytes from the specified byte array starting at offset off to this stream.
      void write​(int b)
      Writes the specified byte to this stream.

    • Constructor Detail

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(OutputStream out)
        Creates a new print stream. This stream will not flush automatically.
        Parameters:
        out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
        See Also:
        PrintWriter(java.io.OutputStream)

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(OutputStream out,
                   boolean autoFlush)
        Creates a new print stream.
        Parameters:
        out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
        autoFlush - A boolean; if true, the output buffer will be flushed whenever a byte array is written, one of the println methods is invoked, or a newline character or byte ('\n') is written
        See Also:
        PrintWriter(java.io.OutputStream, boolean)

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(OutputStream out,
                   boolean autoFlush,
                   String encoding)
            throws UnsupportedEncodingException
        Creates a new print stream.
        Parameters:
        out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
        autoFlush - A boolean; if true, the output buffer will be flushed whenever a byte array is written, one of the println methods is invoked, or a newline character or byte ('\n') is written
        encoding - The name of a supported character encoding
        Throws:
        UnsupportedEncodingException - If the named encoding is not supported
        Since:
        1.4

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(OutputStream out,
                   boolean autoFlush,
                   Charset charset)
        Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream, automatic line flushing and charset. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the provided charset.
        Parameters:
        out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
        autoFlush - A boolean; if true, the output buffer will be flushed whenever a byte array is written, one of the println methods is invoked, or a newline character or byte ('\n') is written
        charset - A charset
        Since:
        10

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(String fileName)
            throws FileNotFoundException
        Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file name. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the default charset for this instance of the Java virtual machine.
        Parameters:
        fileName - The name of the file to use as the destination of this print stream. If the file exists, then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file will be created. The output will be written to the file and is buffered.
        Throws:
        FileNotFoundException - If the given file object does not denote an existing, writable regular file and a new regular file of that name cannot be created, or if some other error occurs while opening or creating the file
        SecurityException - If a security manager is present and checkWrite(fileName) denies write access to the file
        Since:
        1.5

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(String fileName,
                   String csn)
            throws FileNotFoundException,
                   UnsupportedEncodingException
        Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file name and charset. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the provided charset.
        Parameters:
        fileName - The name of the file to use as the destination of this print stream. If the file exists, then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file will be created. The output will be written to the file and is buffered.
        csn - The name of a supported charset
        Throws:
        FileNotFoundException - If the given file object does not denote an existing, writable regular file and a new regular file of that name cannot be created, or if some other error occurs while opening or creating the file
        SecurityException - If a security manager is present and checkWrite(fileName) denies write access to the file
        UnsupportedEncodingException - If the named charset is not supported
        Since:
        1.5

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(String fileName,
                   Charset charset)
            throws IOException
        Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file name and charset. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the provided charset.
        Parameters:
        fileName - The name of the file to use as the destination of this print stream. If the file exists, then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file will be created. The output will be written to the file and is buffered.
        charset - A charset
        Throws:
        IOException - if an I/O error occurs while opening or creating the file
        SecurityException - If a security manager is present and checkWrite(fileName) denies write access to the file
        Since:
        10

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(File file)
            throws FileNotFoundException
        Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the default charset for this instance of the Java virtual machine.
        Parameters:
        file - The file to use as the destination of this print stream. If the file exists, then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file will be created. The output will be written to the file and is buffered.
        Throws:
        FileNotFoundException - If the given file object does not denote an existing, writable regular file and a new regular file of that name cannot be created, or if some other error occurs while opening or creating the file
        SecurityException - If a security manager is present and checkWrite(file.getPath()) denies write access to the file
        Since:
        1.5

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(File file,
                   String csn)
            throws FileNotFoundException,
                   UnsupportedEncodingException
        Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file and charset. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the provided charset.
        Parameters:
        file - The file to use as the destination of this print stream. If the file exists, then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file will be created. The output will be written to the file and is buffered.
        csn - The name of a supported charset
        Throws:
        FileNotFoundException - If the given file object does not denote an existing, writable regular file and a new regular file of that name cannot be created, or if some other error occurs while opening or creating the file
        SecurityException - If a security manager is present and checkWrite(file.getPath()) denies write access to the file
        UnsupportedEncodingException - If the named charset is not supported
        Since:
        1.5

      • PrintStream

        public PrintStream​(File file,
                   Charset charset)
            throws IOException
        Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified file and charset. This convenience constructor creates the necessary intermediate OutputStreamWriter, which will encode characters using the provided charset.
        Parameters:
        file - The file to use as the destination of this print stream. If the file exists, then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file will be created. The output will be written to the file and is buffered.
        charset - A charset
        Throws:
        IOException - if an I/O error occurs while opening or creating the file
        SecurityException - If a security manager is present and checkWrite(file.getPath()) denies write access to the file
        Since:
        10

    • Method Detail

      • flush

        public void flush()
        Flushes the stream. This is done by writing any buffered output bytes to the underlying output stream and then flushing that stream.
        Specified by:
        flush in interface Flushable
        Overrides:
        flush in class FilterOutputStream
        See Also:
        OutputStream.flush()

      • checkError

        public boolean checkError()
        Flushes the stream and checks its error state. The internal error state is set to true when the underlying output stream throws an IOException other than InterruptedIOException, and when the setError method is invoked. If an operation on the underlying output stream throws an InterruptedIOException, then the PrintStream converts the exception back into an interrupt by doing: 
        
     Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
        or the equivalent.
        Returns:
        true if and only if this stream has encountered an IOException other than InterruptedIOException, or the setError method has been invoked

      • setError

        protected void setError()
        Sets the error state of the stream to true.

        This method will cause subsequent invocations of checkError() to return true until clearError() is invoked.

        Since:
        1.1

      • clearError

        protected void clearError()
        Clears the internal error state of this stream.

        This method will cause subsequent invocations of checkError() to return false until another write operation fails and invokes setError().

        Since:
        1.6

      • write

        public void write​(int b)
        Writes the specified byte to this stream. If the byte is a newline and automatic flushing is enabled then the flush method will be invoked.

        Note that the byte is written as given; to write a character that will be translated according to the platform's default character encoding, use the print(char) or println(char) methods.

        Overrides:
        write in class FilterOutputStream
        Parameters:
        b - The byte to be written
        See Also:
        print(char), println(char)

      • write

        public void write​(byte[] buf,
                  int off,
                  int len)
        Writes len bytes from the specified byte array starting at offset off to this stream. If automatic flushing is enabled then the flush method will be invoked.

        Note that the bytes will be written as given; to write characters that will be translated according to the platform's default character encoding, use the print(char) or println(char) methods.

        Overrides:
        write in class FilterOutputStream
        Parameters:
        buf - A byte array
        off - Offset from which to start taking bytes
        len - Number of bytes to write
        See Also:
        FilterOutputStream.write(int)

      • print

        public void print​(boolean b)
        Prints a boolean value. The string produced by String.valueOf(boolean) is translated into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        b - The boolean to be printed

      • print

        public void print​(char c)
        Prints a character. The character is translated into one or more bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        c - The char to be printed

      • print

        public void print​(int i)
        Prints an integer. The string produced by String.valueOf(int) is translated into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        i - The int to be printed
        See Also:
        Integer.toString(int)

      • print

        public void print​(long l)
        Prints a long integer. The string produced by String.valueOf(long) is translated into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        l - The long to be printed
        See Also:
        Long.toString(long)

      • print

        public void print​(float f)
        Prints a floating-point number. The string produced by String.valueOf(float) is translated into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        f - The float to be printed
        See Also:
        Float.toString(float)

      • print

        public void print​(double d)
        Prints a double-precision floating-point number. The string produced by String.valueOf(double) is translated into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        d - The double to be printed
        See Also:
        Double.toString(double)

      • print

        public void print​(char[] s)
        Prints an array of characters. The characters are converted into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        s - The array of chars to be printed
        Throws:
        NullPointerException - If s is null

      • print

        public void print​(String s)
        Prints a string. If the argument is null then the string "null" is printed. Otherwise, the string's characters are converted into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        s - The String to be printed

      • print

        public void print​(Object obj)
        Prints an object. The string produced by the String.valueOf(Object) method is translated into bytes according to the platform's default character encoding, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
        Parameters:
        obj - The Object to be printed
        See Also:
        Object.toString()

      • println

        public void println()
        Terminates the current line by writing the line separator string. The line separator string is defined by the system property line.separator, and is not necessarily a single newline character ('\n').

      • println

        public void println​(boolean x)
        Prints a boolean and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(boolean) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The boolean to be printed

      • println

        public void println​(char x)
        Prints a character and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(char) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The char to be printed.

      • println

        public void println​(int x)
        Prints an integer and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(int) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The int to be printed.

      • println

        public void println​(long x)
        Prints a long and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(long) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - a The long to be printed.

      • println

        public void println​(float x)
        Prints a float and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(float) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The float to be printed.

      • println

        public void println​(double x)
        Prints a double and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(double) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The double to be printed.

      • println

        public void println​(char[] x)
        Prints an array of characters and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(char[]) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - an array of chars to print.

      • println

        public void println​(String x)
        Prints a String and then terminate the line. This method behaves as though it invokes print(String) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The String to be printed.

      • println

        public void println​(Object x)
        Prints an Object and then terminate the line. This method calls at first String.valueOf(x) to get the printed object's string value, then behaves as though it invokes print(String) and then println().
        Parameters:
        x - The Object to be printed.

      • printf

        public PrintStream printf​(String format,
                          Object... args)
        A convenience method to write a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.

        An invocation of this method of the form out.printf(format, args) behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation 

        
     out.format(format, args)
        Parameters:
        format - A format string as described in Format string syntax
        args - Arguments referenced by the format specifiers in the format string. If there are more arguments than format specifiers, the extra arguments are ignored. The number of arguments is variable and may be zero. The maximum number of arguments is limited by the maximum dimension of a Java array as defined by The Java™ Virtual Machine Specification. The behaviour on a null argument depends on the conversion.
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Throws:
        IllegalFormatException - If a format string contains an illegal syntax, a format specifier that is incompatible with the given arguments, insufficient arguments given the format string, or other illegal conditions. For specification of all possible formatting errors, see the Details section of the formatter class specification.
        NullPointerException - If the format is null
        Since:
        1.5

      • printf

        public PrintStream printf​(Locale l,
                          String format,
                          Object... args)
        A convenience method to write a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.

        An invocation of this method of the form out.printf(l, format, args) behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation 

        
     out.format(l, format, args)
        Parameters:
        l - The locale to apply during formatting. If l is null then no localization is applied.
        format - A format string as described in Format string syntax
        args - Arguments referenced by the format specifiers in the format string. If there are more arguments than format specifiers, the extra arguments are ignored. The number of arguments is variable and may be zero. The maximum number of arguments is limited by the maximum dimension of a Java array as defined by The Java™ Virtual Machine Specification. The behaviour on a null argument depends on the conversion.
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Throws:
        IllegalFormatException - If a format string contains an illegal syntax, a format specifier that is incompatible with the given arguments, insufficient arguments given the format string, or other illegal conditions. For specification of all possible formatting errors, see the Details section of the formatter class specification.
        NullPointerException - If the format is null
        Since:
        1.5

      • format

        public PrintStream format​(String format,
                          Object... args)
        Writes a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.

        The locale always used is the one returned by Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category) with FORMAT category specified, regardless of any previous invocations of other formatting methods on this object.

        Parameters:
        format - A format string as described in Format string syntax
        args - Arguments referenced by the format specifiers in the format string. If there are more arguments than format specifiers, the extra arguments are ignored. The number of arguments is variable and may be zero. The maximum number of arguments is limited by the maximum dimension of a Java array as defined by The Java™ Virtual Machine Specification. The behaviour on a null argument depends on the conversion.
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Throws:
        IllegalFormatException - If a format string contains an illegal syntax, a format specifier that is incompatible with the given arguments, insufficient arguments given the format string, or other illegal conditions. For specification of all possible formatting errors, see the Details section of the formatter class specification.
        NullPointerException - If the format is null
        Since:
        1.5

      • format

        public PrintStream format​(Locale l,
                          String format,
                          Object... args)
        Writes a formatted string to this output stream using the specified format string and arguments.
        Parameters:
        l - The locale to apply during formatting. If l is null then no localization is applied.
        format - A format string as described in Format string syntax
        args - Arguments referenced by the format specifiers in the format string. If there are more arguments than format specifiers, the extra arguments are ignored. The number of arguments is variable and may be zero. The maximum number of arguments is limited by the maximum dimension of a Java array as defined by The Java™ Virtual Machine Specification. The behaviour on a null argument depends on the conversion.
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Throws:
        IllegalFormatException - If a format string contains an illegal syntax, a format specifier that is incompatible with the given arguments, insufficient arguments given the format string, or other illegal conditions. For specification of all possible formatting errors, see the Details section of the formatter class specification.
        NullPointerException - If the format is null
        Since:
        1.5

      • append

        public PrintStream append​(CharSequence csq)
        Appends the specified character sequence to this output stream.

        An invocation of this method of the form out.append(csq) behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation 

        
     out.print(csq.toString())

        Depending on the specification of toString for the character sequence csq, the entire sequence may not be appended. For instance, invoking then toString method of a character buffer will return a subsequence whose content depends upon the buffer's position and limit.

        Specified by:
        append in interface Appendable
        Parameters:
        csq - The character sequence to append. If csq is null, then the four characters "null" are appended to this output stream.
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Since:
        1.5

      • append

        public PrintStream append​(CharSequence csq,
                          int start,
                          int end)
        Appends a subsequence of the specified character sequence to this output stream.

        An invocation of this method of the form out.append(csq, start, end) when csq is not null, behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation 

        
     out.print(csq.subSequence(start, end).toString())
        Specified by:
        append in interface Appendable
        Parameters:
        csq - The character sequence from which a subsequence will be appended. If csq is null, then characters will be appended as if csq contained the four characters "null".
        start - The index of the first character in the subsequence
        end - The index of the character following the last character in the subsequence
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Throws:
        IndexOutOfBoundsException - If start or end are negative, start is greater than end, or end is greater than csq.length()
        Since:
        1.5

      • append

        public PrintStream append​(char c)
        Appends the specified character to this output stream.

        An invocation of this method of the form out.append(c) behaves in exactly the same way as the invocation 

        
     out.print(c)
        Specified by:
        append in interface Appendable
        Parameters:
        c - The 16-bit character to append
        Returns:
        This output stream
        Since:
        1.5