MessageFormat

December 26, 2018

Code snippet

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import java.text.MessageFormat;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import static java.util.logging.Level.INFO;

public class Main {
    private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(Main.class.getName());

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String pattern = "You passed{0,choice,0# no |1# one |1< {0} }argument{0,choice,0#|1<s}";
        String message = MessageFormat.format(pattern, args.length);
        logger.log(INFO, message);
    }
}

Understanding the code snippet

{0,choice,0# no |1# one |1< {0} }: This part is a ChoiceFormat that behaves based on the value of {0} (i.e., the number of arguments):

0# no → if 0, print no
1# one → if 1, print one
1< {0} → if more than 1, print the actual number (e.g., 2, 3, etc.)

argument{0,choice,0#|1<s}: This part formats the word argument to add “s” only if {0} is not 0 or 1 (i.e., plural form).

0# → nothing
1# → nothing
1< → adds “s”

Example outputs:

`args.length`	Output
0	You passed no argument
1	You passed one argument
2	You passed 2 arguments
5	You passed 5 arguments