Formatter.format() difficulties

Question

I am having troubles formating output. I am using JavaTM 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 API Specification and Java 1.5.0.
In the API there is a class called formatter that allows for you to format output by giving it arguments. Below is an exact copy of a portion of the example in the java API.
public class format {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
             // Send all output to the Appendable object sb
             Formatter formatter = new Formatter(sb, Locale.US);
             // Explicit argument indices may be used to re-order output.
             formatter.format("%4$2s %3$2s %2$2s %1$2s", "a", "b", "c", "d");
             // -> " d  c  b  a"
}However when I try to compile it, It does not work and spits out the following.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation problem:
The method format(String, Object[]) in the type Formatter is not applicable for the arguments (String, String, String, String, String)
at format.main(format.java:25)
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks

Answer 1

Yes it works.
But try as I suggest
javac -version.
I am pretty sure you ar using not the 1.5 compiler.
java version "1.5.0_02"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_02-b09)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_02-b09, mixed mode, sharing)The java version itself is not of interest during compiling