Java text block indentation and leading spaces

Question

Given the following code

public class TextBlock {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String indentedText = """
            hello
                indented
            world
        """;
        System.out.println(indentedText);
    }
}

The output is as follows (mind the leading spaces):

    hello
        indented
    world

How to obtain String value like below (without unnecessary leading spaces)?

hello
    indented
world

This is specified in the Java Language Specification 3.10.6. Text Blocks: "Incidental white space is removed, as if by execution of String.stripIndent" and detailed in stripIndent() or even a Programmer's Guide to Text Blocks from Oracle — user16320675
– user16320675, Commented Feb 1, 2022 at 16:18

Wojciech Wirzbicki · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-01 15:00:43Z

19

You can manipulate indentation by changing closing quotes position in the code ("""). For example

String indentedText = """
                hello
                    indented
                world
    """;
System.out.println(indentedText);

Would produce

        hello
            indented
        world

but

String indentedText = """
                hello
                    indented
                world
                """;
System.out.println(indentedText);

will produce

hello
    indented
world

answered Feb 1, 2022 at 15:00

Wojciech Wirzbicki

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1 Comment

ps.pf Sep 16 at 4:14

@WojciechWirzibicki the output for your first example should be indented by 12 spaces instead of 8. Perhaps you could edit your answer to show this.

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