概括一下Eko的答案(Java 11+):

public class StringUtils {
    public static String padLeft(String s, char fill, int padSize) {
        if (padSize < 0) {
            var err = "padSize must be >= 0 (was " + padSize + ")";
            throw new java.lang.IllegalArgumentException(err);
        }

        int repeats = Math.max(0, padSize - s.length());
        return Character.toString(fill).repeat(repeats) + s;
    }

    public static String padRight(String s, char fill, int padSize) {
        if (padSize < 0) {
            var err = "padSize must be >= 0 (was " + padSize + ")";
            throw new java.lang.IllegalArgumentException(err);
        }

        int repeats = Math.max(0, padSize - s.length());
        return s + Character.toString(fill).repeat(repeats);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(padLeft("", 'x', 5)); // => xxxxx
        System.out.println(padLeft("1", 'x', 5)); // => xxxx1
        System.out.println(padLeft("12", 'x', 5)); // => xxx12
        System.out.println(padLeft("123", 'x', 5)); // => xx123
        System.out.println(padLeft("1234", 'x', 5)); // => x1234
        System.out.println(padLeft("12345", 'x', 5)); // => 12345
        System.out.println(padLeft("123456", 'x', 5)); // => 123456

        System.out.println(padRight("", 'x', 5)); // => xxxxx
        System.out.println(padRight("1", 'x', 5)); // => 1xxxx
        System.out.println(padRight("12", 'x', 5)); // => 12xxx
        System.out.println(padRight("123", 'x', 5)); // => 123xx
        System.out.println(padRight("1234", 'x', 5)); // => 1234x
        System.out.println(padRight("12345", 'x', 5)); // => 12345
        System.out.println(padRight("123456", 'x', 5)); // => 123456

        System.out.println(padRight("1", 'x', -1)); // => throws
    }
}

另一种利用递归的解决方案。

这与所有JDK版本兼容，不需要外部库:

private static String addPadding(final String str, final int desiredLength, final String padBy) {
    String result = str;
    if (str.length() >= desiredLength) {
        return result;
    } else {
        result += padBy;
        return addPadding(result, desiredLength, padBy);
    }
}

注意:这个解决方案将附加填充，与一个小调整，你可以前缀填充值。

从Java 11开始，string. repeat(int)可以用来左右填充给定的字符串。

System.out.println("*".repeat(5)+"apple");
System.out.println("apple"+"*".repeat(5));

输出:

*****apple
apple*****

你可以使用内置的StringBuilder append()和insert()方法， 对于可变字符串长度的填充:

AbstractStringBuilder append(CharSequence s, int start, int end) ;

例如:

private static final String  MAX_STRING = "                    "; //20 spaces

    Set<StringBuilder> set= new HashSet<StringBuilder>();
    set.add(new StringBuilder("12345678"));
    set.add(new StringBuilder("123456789"));
    set.add(new StringBuilder("1234567811"));
    set.add(new StringBuilder("12345678123"));
    set.add(new StringBuilder("1234567812234"));
    set.add(new StringBuilder("1234567812222"));
    set.add(new StringBuilder("12345678122334"));

    for(StringBuilder padMe: set)
        padMe.append(MAX_STRING, padMe.length(), MAX_STRING.length());

你可以通过保留填充数据来减少每次调用的开销，而不是每次都重新构建:

public class RightPadder {

    private int length;
    private String padding;

    public RightPadder(int length, String pad) {
        this.length = length;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(pad);
        while (sb.length() < length) {
            sb.append(sb);
        }
        padding = sb.toString();
   }

    public String pad(String s) {
        return (s.length() < length ? s + padding : s).substring(0, length);
    }

}

作为一种替代方法，您可以将结果长度作为pad(…)方法的参数。在这种情况下，在该方法中而不是在构造函数中调整隐藏填充。

(提示:为了获得额外的学分，让它是线程安全的!: -)

填充到10个字符:

String.format("%10s", "foo").replace(' ', '*');
String.format("%-10s", "bar").replace(' ', '*');
String.format("%10s", "longer than 10 chars").replace(' ', '*');

输出:

  *******foo
  bar*******
  longer*than*10*chars

密码字符显示“*”:

String password = "secret123";
String padded = String.format("%"+password.length()+"s", "").replace(' ', '*');

输出与密码字符串长度相同:

  secret123
  *********