Using sprintf in Matlab?

Question

This is similar to a question I asked previously about opening a pdf in Matlab.

file = 'sl3_knt_1_2.pdf'
location = 'C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCview.exe %s'
str = sprintf(location,file);
system(str)

This returns the warning:

Warning: Invalid escape sequence appears in format string. See help sprintf for valid escape sequences.

I think it has something to the location variable getting read as an escape sequence since it uses \ but I am not sure. I cant seem to get this to work.

AGS · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-11 20:56:48Z

4

Try this:

file = 'sl3_knt_1_2.pdf'
location = 'C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCview.exe'

str = sprintf('%s %s',location, file)

system(str)

answered Sep 11, 2012 at 20:56

AGS

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ypnos · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-11 21:08:58Z

3

The easy solution is to use '/' instead of '\', which works on all platforms, including Windows. '\' is problematic being a special character.

answered Sep 11, 2012 at 21:08

ypnos

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Stat-R · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-24 18:03:31Z

2

Alternatively, you can change your location string like that:

location = 'C:\\Program Files\\Tracker Software\\PDF Viewer\\PDFXCview.exe %s'

Usually \ is used for special characters. For instance \n is an end of line. So when you really want to write \, you need to escape it by using \. So, you need to write \\ in this case

edited Apr 24, 2013 at 18:03

Stat-R

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answered Sep 11, 2012 at 21:04

Oli

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