How to go about formatting 1200 to 1.2k in java

Question

I'd like to format following numbers into the numbers next to them with java:

1000 to 1k
5821 to 5.8k
10500 to 10k
101800 to 101k
2000000 to 2m
7800000 to 7.8m
92150000 to 92m
123200000 to 123m

The number on the right will be long or integer the number on the left will be string. How should I approach this. I already did little algorithm for this but I thought there might be already something invented out there that does nicer job at it and doesn't require additional testing if I start dealing with billions and trillions :)

Additional Requirements:

• The format should have maximum of 4 characters
• The above means 1.1k is OK 11.2k is not. Same for 7.8m is OK 19.1m is not. Only one digit before decimal point is allowed to have decimal point. Two digits before decimal point means not digits after decimal point.
• No rounding is necessary. (Numbers being displayed with k and m appended are more of analog gauge indicating approximation not precise article of logic. Hence rounding is irrelevant mainly due to nature of variable than can increase or decrees several digits even while you are looking at the cached result.)

Answer 1

Here is a solution that works for any long value and that I find quite readable (the core logic is done in the bottom three lines of the format method).

It leverages TreeMap to find the appropriate suffix. It is surprisingly more efficient than a previous solution I wrote that was using arrays and was more difficult to read.

private static final NavigableMap<Long, String> suffixes = new TreeMap<> ();
static {
  suffixes.put(1_000L, "k");
  suffixes.put(1_000_000L, "M");
  suffixes.put(1_000_000_000L, "G");
  suffixes.put(1_000_000_000_000L, "T");
  suffixes.put(1_000_000_000_000_000L, "P");
  suffixes.put(1_000_000_000_000_000_000L, "E");
}

public static String format(long value) {
  //Long.MIN_VALUE == -Long.MIN_VALUE so we need an adjustment here
  if (value == Long.MIN_VALUE) return format(Long.MIN_VALUE + 1);
  if (value < 0) return "-" + format(-value);
  if (value < 1000) return Long.toString(value); //deal with easy case

  Entry<Long, String> e = suffixes.floorEntry(value);
  Long divideBy = e.getKey();
  String suffix = e.getValue();

  long truncated = value / (divideBy / 10); //the number part of the output times 10
  boolean hasDecimal = truncated < 100 && (truncated / 10d) != (truncated / 10);
  return hasDecimal ? (truncated / 10d) + suffix : (truncated / 10) + suffix;
}

---

Test code

public static void main(String args[]) {
  long[] numbers = {0, 5, 999, 1_000, -5_821, 10_500, -101_800, 2_000_000, -7_800_000, 92_150_000, 123_200_000, 9_999_999, 999_999_999_999_999_999L, 1_230_000_000_000_000L, Long.MIN_VALUE, Long.MAX_VALUE};
  String[] expected = {"0", "5", "999", "1k", "-5.8k", "10k", "-101k", "2M", "-7.8M", "92M", "123M", "9.9M", "999P", "1.2P", "-9.2E", "9.2E"};
  for (int i = 0; i < numbers.length; i++) {
    long n = numbers[i];
    String formatted = format(n);
    System.out.println(n + " => " + formatted);
    if (!formatted.equals(expected[i])) throw new AssertionError("Expected: " + expected[i] + " but found: " + formatted);
  }
}