Can toString() method take an argument in Java?

Question

I tested this in eclipse, and it didn't give me any exceptions. However I wasn't able to specify the value x. Can toString() take an argument (I know that my example below isn't the greatest)?

Test.java

public class Test {

    public String toString(int x){
        return "Hey "+ x;
    }

}

Main.java

public class Main {
      public static void main(String[] args){

          System.out.println(new Test());


      }
}

Answer 1

Can toString() take an argument?

Yes, and in this case you'll have an overloaded toString() method.

When invoking System.out.println(t), however, the Object#toString() will be invoked anyway (and you can verify that by checking the PrintStream#println(Object t) method's source).

In order to invoke your custom .toString() method, you have to do (for example):

System.out.println(t.toString(5));