dash delimiters in java are changing the output

Question

I am using the following below java code to convert the numerics to arabic

    String str = "1234-5678-9101";

    char[] chars = {'٠','١','٢','٣','٤','٥','٦','٧','٨','٩'};
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();

    for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i) {
        if (Character.isDigit(str.charAt(i))) {
            builder.append(Chars[(int)(str.charAt(i))-48]);
        } else {
            builder.append(str.charAt(i));
        }
    }

the expected output is ٩١٠١-٥٦٧٨-١٢٣٤ but the result is ١٢٣٤-٥٦٧٨-٩١٠١ (reverse direction)

why do you subtract 48? `builder.append(Chars[(int)(str.charAt(i))-48]);` — Ezhil V, Apr 14 '13 at 10:40
@javapirate Because character '0' has decimal value of 48. This way you get number 0 for character '0'. — Cebence, Apr 14 '13 at 10:42

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 15 '13 at 04:48

1

Thanks to everyone, this issue was resolved using the below code:

String str = "1234-5678-9101";

char[] chars = {'٠','١','٢','٣','٤','٥','٦','٧','٨','٩'};
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();

for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i) {
    if (Character.isDigit(str.charAt(i))) {
        builder.append(Chars[(int)(str.charAt(i))-48]);
    } else {
        builder.append("\u202A");
        builder.append(str.charAt(i));
    }
}

answered Apr 15 '13 at 04:48

user2079954

479
3
10
21

[This will be good reading for the future.](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/202a/index.htm) Glad you got it to work. – Makoto Apr 15 '13 at 04:52

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 14 '13 at 10:49

0

The code works, that's obvious. But it looks to me that the dash character (-) is breaking the rules of Arabic writing from right to left - it seems that each group of numbers is correct but the overall order is not.

expected: ٩١٠١-٥٦٧٨-١٢٣٤
actual: ١٢٣٤-٥٦٧٨-٩١٠١

I can't help much more than this because that's all I know on Arabic alphabet. Hope this helps.

answered Apr 14 '13 at 10:49

Cebence

2,406
2
19
20

It's an answer that doesn't *quite* answer the question. It would probably be better served as a comment instead. – Makoto Apr 15 '13 at 04:53
Agreed. At that time I didn't know a comment can hold 600 characters and be styled. But it did help to solve the problem :) – Cebence Apr 16 '13 at 15:06

dash delimiters in java are changing the output

2 Answers2