Delimited Output

Delimited Output
This lecture has been re-organized. See the lecture on delimiting strings .

Prof. David Bernstein
James Madison University

Computer Science Department

bernstdh@jmu.edu

Motivation

Frequently:
- We need to create a String that contains (and/or print) multiple items with a delimiter between items (but not before the first or after the last)
General Examples:
- Comma-Separated-Value (CSV) Format
- Space (or Tab) Delimited Lines
A Specific Example:
- Creating the "Rain,Sleet,Snow" from a String[] containing the three words

Motivation (cont.)

The Issue:
- Not all solutions that are correct are elegant
Different Perspectives/Descriptions:
- There is a delimiter between every pair of items
- There is a delimiter after every item except the last item and the first item when there is only one
- There is a delimiter before every item except the first item (which is also the last item when there is only one)

Review

One Way for the Code to Vary:
- Put a delimiter after an item when there is another to item come
- Put a delimiter before an item when there was already an item
Another Way for the Code to Vary:
- Handle item 0 as a special case or not

Thinking About the Problem

Appending After Every Item But The Last

javaexamples/programmingpatterns/DelimitedStrings.java

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