Tabs in the Printout

Question

Hi i m using .. \t to seperate different colums. I dont want to use a table or a list as the program is very simple, all i want is that output shud look well formatted & aligned, with a tab separation.
On screen it looks OK , but when i print it , "/t" is not recognized & a junk character is printed instead.
I m using j2sdk1.4.
if ( output == 2 )
results = results + "\n Station\t MR \t\t z[i] \t\t dz[i] \n" ;
results = results + " \t(psi)               \n";
So there is actually a TAB between, Station & MR above, but /t is just replaced by a junk character,because of which Station & MR almost stick to each other.
Also, when i save this as a text file, & then Print it, It prints properly.
Thanks
-prk

Answer 1

This is the code I am using to print:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.print.*;
public class SimplePrint implements Printable {
private String stringToPrint;
public SimplePrint() {
this("This is the \t Default String. \t \t Go\t\t Blues!!!");
public SimplePrint(String stringToPrint) {
this.stringToPrint = stringToPrint;
public int print(Graphics g, PageFormat pf, int pageIndex) throws PrinterException {
if (pageIndex >= 1) {
return Printable.NO_SUCH_PAGE;
g.setFont(new Font("Helvetica", Font.PLAIN, 18));
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.drawString(stringToPrint, 100, 100);
return Printable.PAGE_EXISTS;
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Get a PrintJob
PrinterJob pj = PrinterJob.getPrinterJob();
Printable painter;
// Specify the painter
if (args.length == 0) {
painter = new SimplePrint();
} else {
painter = new SimplePrint(args[0]);
pj.setPrintable(painter);
// Show the print dialog
if (pj.printDialog()) {
try {
pj.print();
} catch (PrinterException pe) {
System.out.println("Exception while printing.\n");
pe.printStackTrace();
new PrintPreview(painter, "Print Preview - SimplePrint");