How to correctly call a 2D array from another method in java?

Question

Basically I am trying to create an object and calling it via the main method/ a constructor. When I print it out I get a list but I needed it printed out like a table. Here is the code:

import java.util.Arrays;

public class test2 {
    public static String[][] makeTable(int mouseLocationRow, int mouseLocationColumn) {
        int rows = 12;
        int columns = 12;
        String[][] a = new String[rows][columns];
        for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < columns; j++) {
                a[i][j] =   "#";
            }
        }
        a[mouseLocationRow][mouseLocationColumn] = "&";
        return a;
    }
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a = 5;
        int b = 5;
        System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(makeTable(a, b)));
    }

}

Here is the output:

[[#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, &, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #], [#, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #]]

Here is how its supposed to look like:

############
############
############
############
############
#####&######
############
############
############
############
############
############

How do I make my output look like how its supposed to look like?

Answer 1

You might want to use char[][] instead of String[][]..

Then, to display, use something like printTable() below:

import java.util.Arrays;

public class test2 {
    public static char[][] makeTable(int mouseLocationRow, int mouseLocationColumn) {
        int rows = 12;
        int columns = 12;
        char[][] table = new char[rows][columns];

        for (char[] row : table)
            Arrays.fill(row, '#');

        table[mouseLocationRow][mouseLocationColumn] = '&';
        return table;
    }

    public static void printTable(char[][] table) {
        for (char[] row : table)
            System.out.println(new String(row));
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a = 5;
        int b = 5;
        printTable(makeTable(a, b));
    }
}

Answer 2

Are you looking for something like :

 public void print2DArray(int[][] arr) {
    for (int row = 0; row < arr.length; row++) {
        for (int col = 0; col < arr[row].length; col++) {
            System.out.print(" " + arr[row][col]);
        }
        System.out.println();
    }
}

And Call it from your main method like this:

    int[][] arr = { { 1, 2, 3 }, { 4, 5, 6 }, { 7, 8, 9 } };
    print2DArray(arr);

Or did i miss something ?