Scalable Human Blog

Java’s evolution has always been centred around enhancing the developer experience, with each version introducing features that address prevalent issues and streamline the writing of code. One such feature in Java 13 is the introduction of Text Blocks. Designed to simplify the handling of multiline strings, Text Blocks aim to eliminate a long-standing pain point for Java developers.

1. What Are Text Blocks?

Before Java 13, developers had to resort to concatenating strings using the “+” operator or utilize StringBuilder to handle multiline strings. This made the code hard to read and cluttered. Enter Text Blocks – a multiline string literal that automatically formats the string in a predictable manner.

Text Blocks start and end with three double quote characters ("""). Here’s a basic example:

String textBlock = """
    This is a text block in
    Java 13. It spans multiple
    lines without any hassle.
    """;

2. The Advantages of Using Text Blocks

• Enhanced Readability: Code becomes much cleaner, especially when dealing with multiline strings, such as SQL queries, JSON, or XML structures.
• Avoids Escape Sequences: Previously, inserting a newline character or quotation marks involved using escape sequences (\n, \"). With Text Blocks, this is mostly unnecessary.
• Formatted Strings: Text Blocks preserve the formatting of the strings, making it useful for preserving whitespace and indentation in formats like JSON or XML.

3. Additional Features

• StripIndent: This method allows developers to control the indentation behavior. It’s useful when the indentation in the source code is not desired in the actual string content.

  String query = """
    SELECT *
    FROM users
    WHERE id = 1
    """.stripIndent();

• Translate Escaped Characters: Text Blocks handle escape sequences like \n or \" but also introduce new escape sequences, like \s, which forces a trailing space that would be otherwise ignored.

4. Things to Remember

• Although Text Blocks simplify the handling of multiline strings, it’s essential to be aware of the white spaces. The content’s beginning and end delimiters can influence the resulting string’s format.
• As with any new feature, it’s crucial to test and verify the behavior to ensure it fits the application’s needs.

Conclusion

Java 13’s Text Blocks mark a significant step forward in enhancing the language’s readability and usability. By addressing the verbose and error-prone handling of multiline strings, Java continues to adapt to the changing needs of developers, emphasizing efficiency, clarity, and simplicity. As developers explore and leverage this feature, it’s anticipated that the once tedious task of managing multiline strings will become a breeze.

📚 Further Reading & Related Topics

If you’re interested in Java’s evolving syntax improvements and modern best practices, these related articles will provide further insights:

• Java 14’s Pattern Matching for instanceof: Simplifying Conditional Extractions – Explore how Java continues to enhance readability and reduce boilerplate code with pattern matching improvements.

• Leveraging Java’s Optional: A Better Way to Handle Null – Discover how Optional improves code clarity and safety, aligning with Java’s push toward more expressive and developer-friendly syntax like text blocks.