从问题中还不完全清楚作者是否有兴趣处理某种需要有一些动态值的格式化大字符串，但如果是这种情况，像StringTemplate (http://www.stringtemplate.org/)这样的模板引擎可能非常有用。

下面是一个使用StringTemplate的简单代码示例。实际的模板("Hello， < name >")可以从外部纯文本文件加载。模板中的所有缩进都将被保留，不需要转义。

import org.stringtemplate.v4.*;
 
public class Hello {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ST hello = new ST("Hello, <name>");
        hello.add("name", "World");
        System.out.println(hello.render());
    }
}

附注:为了可读性和本地化目的，从源代码中删除大块文本总是一个好主意。

当使用一长串的+时，只会创建一个StringBuilder，除非在编译时确定String，在这种情况下不使用StringBuilder !

StringBuilder唯一更高效的情况是使用多个语句构造String。

String a = "a\n";
String b = "b\n";
String c = "c\n";
String d = "d\n";

String abcd = a + b + c + d;
System.out.println(abcd);

String abcd2 = "a\n" +
        "b\n" +
        "c\n" +
        "d\n";
System.out.println(abcd2);

注意:只创建了一个StringBuilder。

  Code:
   0:   ldc     #2; //String a\n
   2:   astore_1
   3:   ldc     #3; //String b\n
   5:   astore_2
   6:   ldc     #4; //String c\n
   8:   astore_3
   9:   ldc     #5; //String d\n
   11:  astore  4
   13:  new     #6; //class java/lang/StringBuilder
   16:  dup
   17:  invokespecial   #7; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder."<init>":()V
   20:  aload_1
   21:  invokevirtual   #8; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   24:  aload_2
   25:  invokevirtual   #8; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   28:  aload_3
   29:  invokevirtual   #8; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   32:  aload   4
   34:  invokevirtual   #8; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.append:(Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/StringBuilder;
   37:  invokevirtual   #9; //Method java/lang/StringBuilder.toString:()Ljava/lang/String;
   40:  astore  5
   42:  getstatic       #10; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   45:  aload   5
   47:  invokevirtual   #11; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
   50:  ldc     #12; //String a\nb\nc\nd\n
   52:  astore  6
   54:  getstatic       #10; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   57:  aload   6
   59:  invokevirtual   #11; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
   62:  return

为了进一步澄清我的问题，我根本不关心性能。我关心的是可维护性和设计问题。

尽你所能让它清晰简单。

我所知道的唯一方法是用加号连接多行

一个不错的选择。

import static some.Util.*;

    public class Java {

        public static void main(String[] args) {

            String sql = $(
              "Select * from java",
              "join some on ",
              "group by"        
            );

            System.out.println(sql);
        }

    }


    public class Util {

        public static String $(String ...sql){
            return String.join(System.getProperty("line.separator"),sql);
        }

    }

我还没有看到的另一个答案是java.io.PrintWriter。

StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(stringWriter);
writer.println("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times");
writer.println("it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,");
writer.println("it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,");
writer.println("it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,");
writer.println("it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,");
writer.println("we had everything before us, we had nothing before us");
String string = stringWriter.toString();

此外，java.io.BufferedWriter有一个newLine()方法的事实也未被提及。

    import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;

    String multiline = StringUtils.join(new String[] {
        "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ", 
        "it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness",
        "it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity",
        "it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness",
        "it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair",
        "we had everything before us, we had nothing before us",
        }, "\n");