How to use the toString method in Java?

Question

Can anybody explain to me the concept of the toString() method, defined in the Object class? How is it used, and what is its purpose?

Answer 1

Coding:

public class Test {

    public static void main(String args[]) {

        ArrayList<Student> a = new ArrayList<Student>();
        a.add(new Student("Steve", 12, "Daniel"));
        a.add(new Student("Sachin", 10, "Tendulkar"));

        System.out.println(a);

        display(a);

    }

    static void display(ArrayList<Student> stu) {

        stu.add(new Student("Yuvi", 12, "Bhajji"));

        System.out.println(stu);

    }

}

Student.java:

public class Student {

    public String name;

    public int id;

    public String email;

    Student() {

    }

    Student(String name, int id, String email) {

        this.name = name;
        this.id = id;
        this.email = email;

    }

     public String toString(){           //using these toString to avoid the output like this [com.steve.test.Student@6e1408, com.steve.test.Student@e53108]
          return name+" "+id+" "+email;     
         }  


    public String getName(){

        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name){

        this.name=name;
    }

    public int getId(){

        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id){

        this.id=id;
    }

    public String getEmail(){

        return email;

    }

    public void setEmail(String email){

        this.email=email;
    }
}

Output:

[Steve 12 Daniel, Sachin 10 Tendulkar]

[Steve 12 Daniel, Sachin 10 Tendulkar, Yuvi 12 Bhajji]

If you are not used toString() in Pojo(Student.java) class,you will get an output like [com.steve.test.Student@6e1408, com.steve.test.Student@e53108].To avoid these kind of issue we are using toString() method.

Answer 2

From the Object.toString docs:

Returns a string representation of the object. In general, the toString method returns a string that "textually represents" this object. The result should be a concise but informative representation that is easy for a person to read. It is recommended that all subclasses override this method.

The toString method for class Object returns a string consisting of the name of the class of which the object is an instance, the at-sign character `@', and the unsigned hexadecimal representation of the hash code of the object. In other words, this method returns a string equal to the value of:

getClass().getName() + '@' + Integer.toHexString(hashCode())

Example:

String[] mystr ={"a","b","c"};
System.out.println("mystr.toString: " + mystr.toString());

output:- mystr.toString: [Ljava.lang.String;@13aaa14a

Answer 3

Apart from what cletus answered with regards to debugging, it is used whenever you output an object, like when you use

 System.out.println(myObject);

or

System.out.println("text " + myObject);

Answer 4

If you learn Python first and then Java. I think it plays the same role as __str__() method in Python, it is a magic method like __dict__() and __init__() but to refer to a string representing the the object.

Answer 5

Correctly overridden toString method can help in logging and debugging of Java.

Answer 6

the toString() converts the specified object to a string value.