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/OpenJDK 21

Class PrintStream

java.lang.Object
java.io.OutputStream
java.io.FilterOutputStream
java.io.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 of the underlying output stream 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 the default charset 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
See Also:

Field Summary

Fields declared in class java.io.FilterOutputStream

out

Constructor Summary

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, without automatic line flushing, with the specified OutputStream.
PrintStream(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush)
Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream and line flushing.
PrintStream(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush, String encoding)
Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream, line flushing, and character encoding.
PrintStream(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush, Charset charset)
Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream, 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

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.
Charset charset()
Returns the charset used in this PrintStream instance.
boolean checkError()
Flushes the stream if it's not closed and checks its error state.
protected void clearError()
Clears the 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 terminates the line.
void println(char x)
Prints a character and then terminates the line.
void println(char[] x)
Prints an array of characters and then terminates the line.
void println(double x)
Prints a double and then terminates the line.
void println(float x)
Prints a float and then terminates the line.
void println(int x)
Prints an integer and then terminates the line.
void println(long x)
Prints a long and then terminates the line.
void println(Object x)
Prints an Object and then terminates the line.
void println(String x)
Prints a String and then terminates the line.
protected void setError()
Sets the error state of the stream to true.
void write(byte[] buf)
Writes all bytes from the specified byte array to this stream.
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.
void writeBytes(byte[] buf)
Writes all bytes from the specified byte array to this stream.

Methods declared in class java.io.OutputStream

nullOutputStream

Methods declared in class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Details

PrintStream

public PrintStream(OutputStream out)
Creates a new print stream, without automatic line flushing, with the specified OutputStream. Characters written to the stream are converted to bytes using the default charset, or where out is a PrintStream, the charset used by the print stream.
Parameters:
out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
See Also:

PrintStream

public PrintStream(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush)
Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream and line flushing. Characters written to the stream are converted to bytes using the default charset, or where out is a PrintStream, the charset used by the print stream.
Parameters:
out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
autoFlush - Whether 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:

PrintStream

public PrintStream(OutputStream out, boolean autoFlush, String encoding) throws UnsupportedEncodingException
Creates a new print stream, with the specified OutputStream, line flushing, and character encoding.
Parameters:
out - The output stream to which values and objects will be printed
autoFlush - Whether 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, 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 - Whether 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
See Also:

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
See Also:

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 Details

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:

close

public void close()
Closes the stream. This is done by flushing the stream and then closing the underlying output stream.
Specified by:
close in interface AutoCloseable
Specified by:
close in interface Closeable
Overrides:
close in class FilterOutputStream
See Also:

checkError

public boolean checkError()
Flushes the stream if it's not closed and checks its error state.
Returns:
true if and only if this stream has encountered an IOException, 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 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 on the underlying output stream.

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

Overrides:
write in class FilterOutputStream
Parameters:
b - The byte to be written
See Also:

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 on the underlying output stream.

Note that the bytes will be written as given; to write characters that will be translated according to the default charset, 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
Throws:
IndexOutOfBoundsException - If off is negative, len is negative, or len is greater than b.length - off
See Also:

write

public void write(byte[] buf) throws IOException
Writes all bytes from the specified byte array to this stream. If automatic flushing is enabled then the flush method will be invoked on the underlying output stream.

Note that the bytes will be written as given; to write characters that will be translated according to the default charset, use the print(char[]) or println(char[]) methods.

Overrides:
write in class FilterOutputStream
API Note:
Although declared to throw IOException, this method never actually does so. Instead, like other methods that this class overrides, it sets an internal flag which may be tested via the checkError() method. To write an array of bytes without having to write a catch block for the IOException, use either writeBytes(buf) or write(buf, 0, buf.length).
Implementation Requirements:
This method is equivalent to this.write(buf, 0, buf.length).
Parameters:
buf - A byte array
Throws:
IOException - If an I/O error occurs.
Since:
14
See Also:

writeBytes

public void writeBytes(byte[] buf)
Writes all bytes from the specified byte array 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 default charset, use the print(char[]) or println(char[]) methods.

Implementation Requirements:
This method is equivalent to this.write(buf, 0, buf.length).
Parameters:
buf - A byte array
Since:
14

print

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

print

public void print(char c)
Prints a character. The character is translated into one or more bytes according to the character encoding given to the constructor, or the default charset if none specified. These bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
Parameters:
c - The char to be printed
See Also:

print

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

print

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

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 default charset, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
Parameters:
f - The float to be printed
See Also:

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 default charset, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
Parameters:
d - The double to be printed
See Also:

print

public void print(char[] s)
Prints an array of characters. The characters are converted into bytes according to the character encoding given to the constructor, or the default charset if none specified. 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
See Also:

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 character encoding given to the constructor, or the default charset if none specified. These bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
Parameters:
s - The String to be printed
See Also:

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 default charset, and these bytes are written in exactly the manner of the write(int) method.
Parameters:
obj - The Object to be printed
See Also:

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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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 terminates 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

charset

public Charset charset()
Returns the charset used in this PrintStream instance.
Returns:
the charset used in this PrintStream instance
Since:
18

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Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
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https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/21/docs/api/java.base/java/io/PrintStream.html