Thread: Extra spaces in output - why & how to fix?

Hi! I'm working on a Java assignment in my beginning Java class. The assignment is to write a program using sqrt() method in the Math class and use a for loop to product the output results. My output is correct according to the chart the instructor gave. My only problem is the extra carriage returns between the output. I don't want any spaces between the output.

This is how the assignment should look:

Number  SquareRoot 
    0           0.0000 
    2           1.4142 
    4           2.0000 
    6           2.4495 
    8           2.8284 
   10          3.1623 
   12          3.4641 
   14          3.7417 
   16          4.0000 
   18          4.2426 
   20          4.4721

Which part of my program is causing the extra spaces? How do I fix it?

public class Week5Assignment {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
 
 
   // Print title of square root chart
  System.out.println("Number" + "\tSquare Root");
 
  // Print square root of even numbers 0 - 20 
  for (int x = 0; x <= 20; x++){
    if (x % 2 == 0)
    System.out.printf("  " + x + "\t   " + 
      "%.4f", x + Math.sqrt(x)); 
        System.out.println("\n");   
    }
  }
}

This is the part of the output from my code (I didn't post all through #20 since the length is long):

Number  Square Root
    0           0.0000
 
 
 
    2           3.4142
 
 
 
    4           6.0000
 
 
 
    6           8.4495

I'm wondering why I'm getting all the spaces between each line. Which part of the code is doing that?

Well, I don't know how to get the formatting correct on my output sample.

The code tags should also do that. (It's a bit of an abuse of markup, but that's the way people commonly do it.)

The '0, 2, 4, etc.' should be centered under 'Number' and '0.0000, etc.' centered under Square Root'.

Here we have a bit of a problem because "Number" has six characters, so you can't exactly centre "0" beneath "Number". Ditto the 6 character numerals under "Square Root".

Did you understand what I meant by describing whether there really were tab characters in the output you were supposed generate? A string like "Number"+"\tSquare Root" could end up printed like

Number Square Root

or

Number         Square Root

depending on how tab characters are rendered. If the,re is some clear indication that you are supposed to use tab characters, fair enough. But, otherwise, they are better avoided imho.

-----

Sorry to be fussy. But formatting output is a fussy business.

Is there a way to delete this thread? Do I need to request a mod to delete it? I can't get the formatting correct for people to be able to help.

You can request it, I guess. But there are other things in the thread that might prove valuable to others: the advice to be precise - really precise - about format before attempting to implement that format in code, and the advice to use the newline format and the width specifiers in preference to tab characters.

The (amended) original post doesn't show the output lining up at all. And it is still not clear whether the output ought to include tab characters.

-----

Here's an example of a table whose format is implemented in code using those suggestions. It shows radius, the square of the radius, and the area of a circle (to 3dp). The intention is for the numerals to be aligned at the units place, be centred (or one character left of centre) in their column, and for there to be two characters between adjacent columns.

public class FormatExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Radius  Square  Area (pi r^2)");
        System.out.println("------  ------  -------------");
 
        for(int r = 0; r < 30; r += 2) {
            System.out.printf("  %2d    %4d      %8.3f%n", r, r * r, Math.PI * r * r);
        }
    }
}

The output is:

Radius  Square  Area (pi r^2)
------  ------  -------------
   0       0         0.000
   2       4        12.566
   4      16        50.265
   6      36       113.097
   8      64       201.062
  10     100       314.159
  12     144       452.389
  14     196       615.752
  16     256       804.248
  18     324      1017.876
  20     400      1256.637
  22     484      1520.531
  24     576      1809.557
  26     676      2123.717
  28     784      2463.009