How do I print a dollar sign $ in a string?

Use a backslash to escape it: println("Price: \$10"). Or use a raw string: println("""Price: $10""").

Can I print to stderr in Kotlin?

Yes. Use System.err.println("error message") to print to the standard error stream.

Beginner 5 min readKotlin 2.0

Kotlin Output — println, print, and String Formatting

Kotlin provides println() and print() for console output. println adds a newline; print does not. String templates make formatting easy.

What You Will Learn

Difference between println and print
Printing variables with string templates
Printing numbers and expressions
Printing on the same line

println vs print

println() prints text and moves to the next line. print() prints text and stays on the same line.

println vs print

kotlin
fun main() {
    println("Line 1")
    println("Line 2")
    print("No newline ")
    print("Same line")
    println()
    println("New line after empty println")
}

Output

Line 1 Line 2 No newline Same line New line after empty println

println() adds \n after each call. print() does not. println() with no argument prints just a newline.

Beginner Tip: You can print any value with println — not just strings. println(42) and println(true) both work.

Printing Different Types

Kotlin automatically converts values to strings when you pass them to println.

Printing Numbers, Booleans, Null

kotlin
fun main() {
    println(42)
    println(3.14)
    println(true)
    println(null)
    println(1 + 2)
}

Output

42 3.14 true null 3

println calls .toString() on its argument. Arithmetic expressions are evaluated before printing. null prints the text "null".

String Templates in Output

Instead of concatenation, Kotlin uses string templates. Use $ to embed a variable or ${} for expressions.

String Templates

kotlin
fun main() {
    val name = "Kotlin"
    val version = 2.0
    println("Language: $name")
    println("Version: $version")
    println("Name has ${name.length} characters")
    println("1 + 1 = ${1 + 1}")
}

Output

Language: Kotlin Version: 2.0 Name has 6 characters 1 + 1 = 2

$name inserts the value directly. ${name.length} evaluates an expression and inserts the result. Anything inside {} is evaluated as a Kotlin expression.

Practice Exercise

Exercisepredict output

What does this print? val x = 5 val y = 3 println("$x + $y = ${x + y}")

Quick Quiz

What is the difference between print() and println()?

Kotlin Output — println, print, and String Formatting

What You Will Learn

println vs print

println vs print

Printing Different Types

Printing Numbers, Booleans, Null

String Templates in Output

String Templates

Practice Exercise

Quick Quiz

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Tutorials