Any Future Plans for Multiline Java String

Question

In the spirit of this question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1886966/java-string-declaration-occupying-multiple-lines

will there be any plans in any future version of Java to allow string continuation in the java scource?

String haveUeverSeenLorem =
  "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, \
  consectetur adipisicing elit, \
  sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt \
  ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.";

Either one way or another, e.g. like the above example.

A heredoc syntax would be better. I doubt either is coming any time soon! — jahroy, Jul 25 '12 at 22:01
possible duplicate of [Java multiline string](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/878573/java-multiline-string) — Jason C, Mar 28 '14 at 20:22

assylias · Answer 1 · 2015-06-03T17:13:28.543

10

It was proposed for inclusion in Java 7 but was rejected.

It was proposed again for Java 8 but did not make it to the final version.

Java 9's JEP 213: Milling Project Coin does not include anything regarding multine strings either.

edited Jun 03 '15 at 17:13

answered Jul 25 '12 at 22:33

assylias

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What's the reason behind this decision? I just don't get it: what are they worried about? – sscarduzio Mar 01 '16 at 16:00

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

4

It seems very unlikely. They didn't make the cut for Java 7, as noted in the answer to Java 7 - Multiline strings

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

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answered Jul 25 '12 at 22:05

John Watts

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Unlikely - meaning they will not be considering it seriously at all anytime in the future? Even after gosling has left? – Blessed Geek Jul 26 '12 at 01:27
Proposed and rejected. According to assylias' answer, it happened again in Java 8. As far as I know, no one said never. As far as I know "we will never seriously consider this". Simply, relative to other things they (and I don't know who they are because I don't understand the JCP) decided not to do it so far. I only add "unlikely" because all things being equal I find that a proposal that is repeatedly rejected is likely to continue to be rejected for the same reasons in the future. That's just my opinion, though. – John Watts Jul 26 '12 at 11:29

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 13 '18 at 09:12

Update January 2018:

Have a look at JEP 326: Raw String Literals.

The planned syntax will be:

String haveUeverSeenLorem = `Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
consectetur adipisicing elit, 
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt 
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.`;

Maybe it will be integrated in the next version of Java (Java 11 in September 2018 would be great).

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 09 '20 at 20:58

Update April 2020

The JEP 326: Raw String Literals was withdrawn and is replaced by

JEP 368: Text Blocks (Second Preview).

This feature is released as a preview language feature in Java 14.

The supported syntax is:

String json = """
              {
                 "id": 10,
                 "name": "Joe",
                 "birthday": "1970-01-01"
              }
              """;

""" (fat delimiters) are used as delimiters for multiline strings.

Any Future Plans for Multiline Java String

4 Answers4

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