How to pad string in Java

Question

Is there some easy way to pad Strings in Java?

Seems like something that should be in some StringUtil-like API, but I can't find anything that does this.

Answer 1

Padding to 10 characters:

String.format("%10s", "foo").replace(' ', '*');
String.format("%-10s", "bar").replace(' ', '*');
String.format("%10s", "longer than 10 chars").replace(' ', '*');

output:

  *******foo
  bar*******
  longer*than*10*chars

Display '*' for characters of password:

String password = "secret123";
String padded = String.format("%"+password.length()+"s", "").replace(' ', '*');

output has the same length as the password string:

  secret123
  *********