How can I convert a stack trace to a string?

Question

What is the easiest way to convert the result of Throwable.getStackTrace() to a string that depicts the stacktrace?

Answer 1

If you don't want to use an external library and you're not developing for Android, you could create an 'extension' method like this:

public static String getStackTraceString(Throwable e) {
    return getStackTraceString(e, "");
}

private static String getStackTraceString(Throwable e, String indent) {
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    sb.append(e.toString());
    sb.append("\n");

    StackTraceElement[] stack = e.getStackTrace();
    if (stack != null) {
        for (StackTraceElement stackTraceElement : stack) {
            sb.append(indent);
            sb.append("\tat ");
            sb.append(stackTraceElement.toString());
            sb.append("\n");
        }
    }

    Throwable[] suppressedExceptions = e.getSuppressed();
    // Print suppressed exceptions indented one level deeper.
    if (suppressedExceptions != null) {
        for (Throwable throwable : suppressedExceptions) {
            sb.append(indent);
            sb.append("\tSuppressed: ");
            sb.append(getStackTraceString(throwable, indent + "\t"));
        }
    }

    Throwable cause = e.getCause();
    if (cause != null) {
        sb.append(indent);
        sb.append("Caused by: ");
        sb.append(getStackTraceString(cause, indent));
    }

    return sb.toString();
}