Cannot format double in Java

Question

That's what I'm doing:

double x = 7.0; System.out.printf("%.2f", x); 

Eclipse gives me this error "The printf method (String, Object []) in the PrintStream type is not applicable for arguments (String, double)"

Answer 1

Are you using a version of Java older than 1.5? Or maybe an older compiler matching option in Eclipse? (e.g. 1.4). In fact, I'm sure this is the reason. I just switched the compliance setting to 1.4 and got the same error as you.

Check the project compiler matching settings:

• Choose a project
• Right click and select Properties
• go to the "Java Compiler"
• change compiler compliance and make sure you are using a JRE of this version or higher

This will work if you are using Java 1.5 or higher since the printf method was added in 1.5.

Answer 2

I ran the following and I did not have this problem. Are you getting an error from checking Eclipse code or from a Java compiler?

 public class TestDouble { public static void main(String[] args) { double x = 7.0; System.out.printf("%.2f", x); } } 

This will also work and may stop Eclipse from complaining:

 public class TestDouble { public static void main(String[] args) { double x = 7.0; System.out.printf("%.2f", new Double(x)); } }