String format output

[tcebak]

Hello, just wondering how I can this look nice and neat, i've tweaked around with adding tabs and the around of spaces allowed via %5d. I just can't seem to make everything line up straight, and if i do the names arn't flush with the left boundary.

here is the java code

//*****************************************************************************
//Contacts.java
//Author			William Cebak
//Date				25 September 2012
//
//
// This progam will take a text file that has a list of phone contacts. It will
// take all the information on the text file and re format them and orgainze them
// in a simple to read format.
//
//*****************************************************************************

import java.util.Scanner;
import java.io.*;

public class Contacts
{

	//*************************************************************************
	//Reads data from a file and prints their path components
	//*************************************************************************

	public static void main (String[] args) throws IOException
	{
		String Contactinfo;
		Scanner fileScan, textScan;
		int callouttotal = 0,callintotal = 0, contactcount = 0;

		fileScan = new Scanner (new File("C:/Users/Tony/Desktop/phoneContacts.txt"));

		System.out.println("\tName\t\tPhone\t\tCalls Out\tCalls In\tFavorite");
		//Read and process each line of the file
		while(fileScan.hasNext())
		{
			Contactinfo = fileScan.nextLine(); //reads all the
			//this would display the actuall text line


			textScan = new Scanner(Contactinfo);
			textScan.useDelimiter("#"); // takes out the # symbol

			while (textScan.hasNext()) //reads until there is no more to read
			{
				//Creats a variable for the last name and keep count for total contacts
				String Lastname= textScan.next();
				contactcount ++;


				//Creates a variable for the first name
				String Firstname= textScan.next();

				//Creates a variable for Phone Number
				String Phonenumber = textScan.next();

				//Creates a variable for Calls out and keeps a count
				String Callout = textScan.next();
				Integer calloutnum = Integer.valueOf(Callout);
				callouttotal = (callouttotal + calloutnum);

				//Creates a variable for calls in and keeps a count
				String Callin = textScan.next();
				Integer callinnum = Integer.valueOf(Callin);
				callintotal = (callintotal+ callinnum);


				//Creates a variable for favorite and keeps a count
				String Favorite = textScan.next();
				//if (Favorite == "Y")
				//{
				//	int favoritecount = 0;
				//	favoritecount++;
				//}


				//*************************************************************
				// outputs the contact list in a pretty fashion :)
				//*************************************************************
				String Fullname = Firstname + " " + Lastname;
				System.out.printf("%s\t%12s%d\t\t%d\t\t%s",Fullname,
					Phonenumber, callinnum, calloutnum, Favorite);
				System.out.println();

			}
		}
		System.out.print("\n\n");
		System.out.println("Total outgoing calls for the period:\t\t" + callouttotal);
		System.out.println("Total incoming calls for the period:\t\t" + callintotal);
		System.out.println("Total contacts:\t\t\t\t\t" + contactcount);
	}
}

when executed i want it to display it in a nice pretty format. Thanks for your time

[tcebak]

oh i guess it would help if you had the .txt file ...sorry

Adams#Marilyn#8233331109#0#0#N
Anderson#John#5025559980#20#15#N
Baker-Brown#Angelica#9021329944#0#3#N
Bruin#Joseph Allen#8592541109#11#5#Y
Carrolton#Louise#1079081009#4#0#N
Crisman#Francois#8591110980#11#10#Y
Davidson#George#5011231241#30#28#Y
Davis#Patrick#5021244829#5#9#N
Davis#Robert Ray#8591039492#12#0#N
Engles#Anne Marie#8591232111#17#11#Y
Engles#Kimberly#8591232110#16#10#N
Franklin#Polly#5024823482#8#8#N
Garrison#Henri#5028631678#1#10#Y
Homestead#Erica#6062332344#14#15#Y
Jackson#Camille#8595351288#57#68#Y
Kingston#Samuel#8595359990#4#19#N
Lovelace#Semone#5022709000#0#89#N
Moore#Henre#9082278023#6#9#N
Moore#Pierre#9082278888#55#30#Y
Noonan#Lyndsay#9082271110#3#33#Y
Pratt#Paula#7672778723#0#1#N
Queensly#Robert#5024499944#61#23#Y
Robertson#Victor#8595355353#0#0#N
Smith#Henri#8593380098#2#1#N
Smith#Karletta#8592230876#2#3#N
Smith#Murfey#8592230987#10#15#Y
Tucker#Amber#8593556870#2#0#N
Tucker#Victor#5027780008#0#0#N
Underwood#Fred#5025551234#0#1#Y
Voltz#Victoria#5025358630#19#0#Y
White#George#5025553412#8#2#N
White#Victoria#5024529898#2#2#N
Woods#Scott#6064843399#23#9#Y
Woodson#Bill#6065553345#18#0#N
Young#Julia#7093451129#15#11#Y

[Eranga]

How looks like your formatted output?

[tcebak]

I would like the names to start at the left side of the output and everything line up as well

[Tolls]

%-s
The '-' means "left justified".
You might want to supply a minimum width for the names as well to ensure it all lines up, as a single tab probably isn't going to do it.
eg %-40s for a 40 character width.

[pbrockway2]

Have a look at the Formatter API docs. In particular the "Flags" section talks about the - flag.

The width of items (both string and numeric) can be controlled as described in that document and the result is often more reliable than printing tab characters. The problem with tabs is that you don't always know exactly how much horizontal space they will take up.