how %s is working here?

Question

public class GenericMethodTest {
// generic method printArray
public static < E > void printArray( E[] inputArray ) {
// Display array elements
for(E element : inputArray) {
System.out.printf("%s ", element);
}
System.out.println();
}

public static void main(String args[]) {
// Create arrays of Integer, Double and Character
Integer[] intArray = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
Double[] doubleArray = { 1.1, 2.2, 3.3, 4.4 };
Character[] charArray = { 'H', 'E', 'L', 'L', 'O' };

System.out.println("Array integerArray contains:");
printArray(intArray); // pass an Integer array

System.out.println("\nArray doubleArray contains:");
printArray(doubleArray); // pass a Double array

System.out.println("\nArray characterArray contains:");
printArray(charArray); // pass a Character array
}
}
This will produce the following result −

Output
Array integerArray contains:
1 2 3 4 5

Array doubleArray contains:
1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4

Array characterArray contains:
H E L L O

Answer 1

Okay, let's explain this from another point of view:
Jvm sees:

System.out.printf ("%s", element);

Understands it has to print something.
Notices the %s formatting option. So gets excited: "Yeah, I will print a string! Where's the string, let me totally printf it!".
Looks for the string after the comma, finds element there. Wonders: "This is not a string... oh yeah, I know! I will call toString!"
Gets a string returned from toString and prints it.

Answer 2

%s in the printf is the formatting option which formats the value after the comma as a string and then outputs it. See this for further information:
http://alvinalexander.com/programming/printf-format-cheat-sheet

Answer 3

@Burey It isn't always. Sometimes it just wants to flip tables. But it can't, so it just throws exceptions ^^

Answer 4

@Burey
I think that's what it always wanted to do! Im sure you did it a great favor :D

Answer 5

@Serena Thx. The jvm way ^^

Answer 6

i'll flip it for him/her then

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
(ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
(╯ರ ~ ರ）╯︵ ┻━┻
(┛ಸ_ಸ)┛彡┻━┻
(ﾉ´･ω･)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
(ノಥ,_｣ಥ)ノ彡┻━┻
(┛✧Д✧))┛彡┻━┻
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
(ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
(╯ರ ~ ರ）╯︵ ┻━┻
(┛ಸ_ಸ)┛彡┻━┻
(ﾉ´･ω･)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
(ノಥ,_｣ಥ)ノ彡┻━┻
(┛✧Д✧))┛彡┻━┻
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
(ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
(╯ರ ~ ರ）╯︵ ┻━┻
(┛ಸ_ಸ)┛彡┻━┻
(ﾉ´･ω･)ﾉ ﾐ ┸━┸
(ノಥ,_｣ಥ)ノ彡┻━┻
(┛✧Д✧))┛彡┻━┻

Answer 7

okies
let me just clean my mess then....

(ヘ･_･)ヘ┳━┳

Answer 8

never imagined JVM to be such a cheery fella

Answer 9

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻(•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

Answer 10

i could not understand