import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.font.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;

public class Bds {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
   String s1 = "a";
   String s2 = s1+" ";
   String s3 = " "+s1;
   Font f = new Font("Dialog", Font.PLAIN, 12);
   FontRenderContext frc = new FontRenderContext(null, false, false);
   GlyphVector gv1 = f.createGlyphVector(frc, s1);
   GlyphVector gv2 = f.createGlyphVector(frc, s2);
   GlyphVector gv3 = f.createGlyphVector(frc, s3);
   Rectangle2D bds1 = gv1.getVisualBounds();
   Rectangle2D bds2 = gv2.getVisualBounds();
   Rectangle2D bds3 = gv3.getVisualBounds();
   System.out.println(bds1);
   System.out.println(bds2);
   System.out.println(bds3);
  }
}

JDK 1.5 :-
% java Bds
java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D$Float[x=0.4375,y=-6.359375,w=5.734375,h=6.5]
java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D$Float[x=0.4375,y=-6.359375,w=5.734375,h=6.5]
java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D$Float[x=3.4375,y=-6.359375,w=5.734375,h=6.5]

JDK 1.6 :-
% java Bds
java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D$Float[x=0.4375,y=-6.359375,w=5.734375,h=6.5]
java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D$Float[x=0.4375,y=-6.359375,w=6.5625,h=6.5]
java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D$Float[x=0.0,y=-6.359375,w=9.171875,h=6.5]