Format string XXX is not a valid format string so it should not be passed to String.format

Question

I have android app and this string in resources:

<string name="create_group_select_people">Select up to %1$d people!</string>

This is called from fragment:

Integer countMax = 5; //also tried just "int" - nothing changed
getResources().getString(R.string.create_group_select_people, countMax);

but I got error:

Format string 'create_group_select_people' is not a valid format string so it should not be passed to String.format

I can't understand what is wrong? When I launch app - it shows me literally "Select up to %1$d people!"

any name collisions with 'create_group_select_people'? the string looks legit — borowis, Nov 23 '16 at 13:44
yeah, I guessed something is wrong with the IDE. glad it worked for you — borowis, Nov 24 '16 at 09:51
By the way you will get the same error message if you use (tag using for translation strings) in the string — Daniel, Apr 24 '18 at 08:23

score 45 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 23 '16 at 15:47

45

I just copied the code and it works well. so you may need to check some other place,Here are my suggestions.

clean project
check multi-language files
or just use String.format just like others said

edited Nov 23 '16 at 15:47

Vojtech Ruzicka

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answered Nov 23 '16 at 14:37

ohdroid

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1

Clean build worked for me. Why does this work do you know? What went wrong in the first instance. – COYG Aug 18 '18 at 10:26
Number 2 did it for me. At first I thought there was a problem with lint because I was seeing the same warning three times, but it turns out it was one for each of the languages were the string wasn't formatted correctly – Nicolás Carrasco-Stevenson Dec 19 '18 at 10:26
2

I'm not sure about others but for me, there is an issue with the percentage(%) symbol may be it is related to Unicode. There should be a small symbol (https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+FE6A) not the big symbol(https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+0025). Hope this helps :) – Chitrang Jun 25 '19 at 20:06
For me I needed to check option 2 : **check multi-language files** – botanga May 16 '20 at 12:57
If you have a percent sign you need to escape it as `%%`. You don't need to use an unusual unicode variant of percent as @Chitrang suggests, and if you do you may find it is missing from some fonts. – alex bird Aug 24 '20 at 17:26

score 22 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 29 '18 at 21:36

22

Set parameter formatted to true in resources:

<string name="some_text" formatted="true">
    Use for String.format method. Parameter one: %s1
</string>

and use this way:

String.format(context.getString(R.string.some_text,"value 1"))

or this way:

context.getString(R.string.some_text,"value 1"))

Note:formatted flag should be set to true only for strings with placeholders

answered Jun 29 '18 at 21:36

MiguelSlv

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This did it for me. For some reason, I needed to **restart Android Studio** to remove the error message. – User Feb 26 '20 at 17:24

score 21 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 21 '20 at 07:12

21

This error will be shown if you have the same string in multiple string files (translations), but one of them doesn't have proper format like missing "%s" or "%1$s", which will be used to place paramters passed (ex: "countMax") in below line.

getResources().getString(R.string.create_group_select_people, countMax)

So, please check that before you are going to try any other answers mentioned above.

answered Feb 21 '20 at 07:12

sHaRkBoY

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sometimes others forget what the meaning of the second parameter – Yohanim Mar 17 '21 at 05:02
Hmm yes. A clearer error message would be be most helpful. – William Apr 09 '23 at 04:45

score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 12 '18 at 13:11

14

Try File -> Invalidate Caches / Restart..., it fixed the problem for me.

answered Sep 12 '18 at 13:11

Bernd Kampl

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score 9 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 20 '19 at 04:22

For the sake of others who might find this thread, one possible cause of this warning is that you have multiple languages defined in string resource files and you did not specify format arguments in one or more of them.

For example, if you have a strings.xml in your values folder, and another strings.xml in your values-es folder, but you only added format arguments to the strings.xml in your values folder, then the warning will be triggered because of the lack of format arguments in the string resource of strings.xml in your values-es folder.

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Feb 26 '21 at 17:25

2

If it shows the red color error, then add strings value like this and it will work.

If you want the string format:

   <string name="msg_token_fmt" formatted="true"> %s
</string>

If you want the float format float:

<string name="msg_token_fmt" formatted="true"> %f
</string>

If you want the number format:

  <string name="msg_token_fmt" formatted="true"> %d
    </string>

edited Feb 26 '21 at 17:25

Kirby

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answered Feb 26 '21 at 12:15

btm me

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 23 '16 at 13:49

You need String formatter. Please change below code from

 getResources().getString(R.string.create_group_select_people, countMax);

to

String temp =  String.format(getResources().getString(R.string.create_group_select_people), countMax);

For more detail information refer

score 1 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 20 '18 at 01:02

1

Try doing a 'clean project' followed by a close and reopen of Android Studio.

That fixed it for me, it looks like some minor Android Studio /Lint bug.

edited Aug 20 '18 at 01:02

Stephen Rauch

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answered Aug 20 '18 at 00:44

Venu G.

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 23 '22 at 15:59

1

Just add <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> as first line to your strings.xml

answered Mar 23 '22 at 15:59

Alex Drozd

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Julian · Answer 10 · 2016-11-23T13:57:46.443

0

You're probably missing the format method of the String class, If you're setting it in a TextView, the proper way is:

textView.setText(String.format(getResources().getString(R.string.create_group_select_people), countMax));

edited Nov 23 '16 at 13:57

answered Nov 23 '16 at 13:49

Julian

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 27 '19 at 12:36

0

Make a function and put your code inside it and add this @SuppressLint("StringFormatInvalid") just before the function. Hope it helps.

answered Mar 27 '19 at 12:36

Shivam Maindola

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Braian Coronel · Answer 12 · 2019-12-20T18:11:38.697

0

For the formatting of the string to be correct:

String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, itemView.context.getString(R.string.XXX), "%17")

Also the special characters do not have to interfere with the injection of parameters. For that, take into account the exhaust outlets for special characters

From: <string name="XXX">% %1$s</string>

To: <string name="XXX">%1$s</string>

Finally XXX is "%17"

Good Luck.

Source

edited Dec 20 '19 at 18:11

answered Dec 17 '19 at 13:46

Braian Coronel

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 25 '20 at 15:32

0

In my case invalidating cache with restart did not help, but having consistent formatting parameters (e.g. %s) across other the locales resolved the issue. I hope this might be helpful to someone in the future.

answered Oct 25 '20 at 15:32

ddsultan

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Oct 28 '20 at 19:50

I had the same issue, but it has a different origin. My app has some languages and in one translation there was no "%" but a "$" sign instead. It still worked, except in this specific language and I received this hint at the respective line were I used the string.

Svetoslav Stoyanov · Answer 15 · 2022-06-04T15:01:37.573

0

Still buggy with Android 2021.2.1 Patch 1 Anyway project builds and runs properly, nothing really changed for me after a clean, rebuild, invalidating caches.

Managed to remove the warning like this

                    String msg = String.format(String.valueOf(R.string.msg_token_fmt), token);

edited Jun 04 '22 at 15:01

answered May 26 '22 at 19:42

Svetoslav Stoyanov

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Aug 27 '22 at 17:20

0

Check if this string is mentioned in other xml-files of the strings folder, this might help.

answered Aug 27 '22 at 17:20

Iurii Mg

63
7

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Sep 02 '22 at 06:46

Format string XXX is not a valid format string so it should not be passed to String.format

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