Short string format

Question

I've an array with hundreds of string values, Is it possible to use specific formats to make them shorter?

e.g

Normal -> "Hello John, What's up?!"

With short format -> "Hello John..."

After using substring, I got errors.

private String[] finalString;
for (int i = 0; i < arrays.PodcastTitle.length; i++) {
    finalString[i] = arrays.PodcastTitle[i].substring(0, 5); 
}

Can you provide more detail? How are you describing the short formats? — Andy Thomas, Jun 07 '12 at 14:36
Do you mean keeping the first 2 words, followed by ...? or first x characters followed by ...? Something else? — assylias, Jun 07 '12 at 14:36
Do you mean `String.format`? => I don't think so. But what you want can be easily done using length() and substring(). — leemes, Jun 07 '12 at 14:37
You "got errors" - what errors? One error I see in the code above is that you don't initialize `finalString`, so it will be `null`, leading to a `NullPointerException` when you try to assign to `finalString[i]`. — Jesper, Jun 07 '12 at 14:48
This is a duplicate of another question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3288716/automatically-ellipsize-a-string-in-java — maksimov, Jun 07 '12 at 15:15

Kazekage Gaara · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-07T14:49:49.330

2

Since you haven't given any details, this is the shortest approach :

String little = normalString.substring(0, 10); // use anything 5 or 10 or 15, depending on how short you want to make your String

From your edit:

Please change:

private String[] finalString;

to:

private String[] finalString = new String[whateverSizeYouWant];

edited Jun 07 '12 at 14:49

answered Jun 07 '12 at 14:36

Kazekage Gaara

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Raekye · Answer 2 · 2012-06-07T14:47:57.270

2

String toLitteString(String str, int length) {
     if (str.length() > length) return str.substring(0, length) + "...";
     return str;
}

Function that will truncate longer strings to length (and add a "...") or return the short string. If you want the length to include the "..." then just change length to length - 3.

edited Jun 07 '12 at 14:47

answered Jun 07 '12 at 14:39

Raekye

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Use `str.substring(0, length - 3)` so the length still holds when "..." has been appended. – leemes Jun 07 '12 at 14:40
Thanks, guess it depends on how he wants it. Added! – Raekye Jun 07 '12 at 14:48

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 07 '12 at 14:39

0

Why won't you consider implementing a method that takes a String argument, explodes it by space character and returns the String with required number of words in it?

answered Jun 07 '12 at 14:39

iozee

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Short string format

3 Answers3