Missing printf Format Argument
ID |
java.printf_style_format_strings_lead |
Severity |
critical |
Remediation Complexity |
trivial |
Remediation Risk |
low |
Remediation Effort |
low |
Resource |
Reliability |
Language |
Java |
Tags |
reliability |
Description
Reports a String.format, Formatter.format, PrintStream/PrintWriter printf or format call whose format string needs more argument slots than the call supplies.
Rationale
Conversion specifiers (%s, %d, …) are validated only at runtime, not by the compiler. When a format string has more specifiers than the call has trailing arguments, the JDK throws MissingFormatArgumentException every time the code path runs:
String.format("Processed %d of %d records", 42); // throws MissingFormatArgumentExceptionOnly format strings built from plain, sequential specifiers are checked. A format string using an explicit argument index (%1$s), a back-reference (%<), flags, width or precision is left alone.
Remediation
Supply one argument for every specifier in the format string:
String.format("Processed %d of %d records", 42, total);