What is StringUtils.abbreviateMiddle in Java?

Overview

abbreviateMiddle is a static method of the StringUtils class that is used to abbreviate a string to the passed length by replacing the middle characters with the supplied replacement string.

Abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase.

The method works only if the following conditions are met:

  • The passed string and the replacement string should not be null.
  • The length of the supplied string should be greater than the length of the abbreviated string.
  • The length of the abbreviated string should be greater than zero.

How to import StringUtils

StringUtils is defined in the Apache Commons Lang package. Apache Commons Lang can be added to the Maven project by adding the following dependency to the pom.xml file.

<dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
            <version>3.12.0</version>
</dependency>

For other versions of the commons-lang package, refer to the Maven Repository.

You can import the StringUtils class as follows:

import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;

Syntax

public static String abbreviateMiddle(final String str, final String middle, final int length)

Parameters

The function takes on the following parameters, as described below:

  • final String str is the string to abbreviate.
  • final String middle is the string to use as the replacement string.
  • final int length is the length of the abbreviated string.

Return value

This method returns the abbreviated string.

Code

import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String s = "educative";
        int length = 5;
        String middleString = "...";
        System.out.printf("Abbreviation Middle of %s is %s", s, StringUtils.abbreviateMiddle(s, middleString, length));
        System.out.println();
        s = "educative";
        length = 8;
        middleString = "#";
        System.out.printf("Abbreviation Middle of %s is %s", s, StringUtils.abbreviateMiddle(s, middleString, length));
        System.out.println();
        s = "educative";
        length = 10;
        middleString = "#";
        System.out.printf("Abbreviation Middle of %s is %s", s, StringUtils.abbreviateMiddle(s, middleString, length));
        System.out.println();
    }
}

Explanation

  • string = "educative"
  • middle string = "..."
  • length = 5

The method will replace the middle characters with the middle string and return e...e.

  • string = "educative"
  • middle string = "#"
  • length = 8

The method will replace the middle characters with the middle string and return educ#ive, with a length that is equal to the length passed.

  • string = "educative"
  • middle string = "#"
  • length = 10

This method will return the input string because the length passed is greater than the length of the input string.

Output

The output of the code will be as follows:

Abbreviation Middle of educative is e...e
Abbreviation Middle of educative is educ#ive
Abbreviation Middle of educative is educative

Free Resources

License: Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC-BY-SA 4.0)