MATLAB: Format string array

Question

I am wondering how to apply a specific format to the newly available string array?

mat = [0, 0.4, 0.2 ; 0, 0.6, 0.8]
str = string(mat)

I would like the resulting string array to show always two decimals, followed by the percent sign (such as sprintf('%.2f%%', str)).

How am I supposed to do that? If it's not possible with a string array, a cell array of char would be equally fine.

@SardarUsama Well, I could do that. However, isn't there a more elegant way to solve that problem? — Andi
– Andi, Commented Mar 2, 2018 at 10:31
Your input is 2x3, do you want your str to also be 2x3 (cell array I assume) or is a 6x1 list okay? — matlabgui
– matlabgui, Commented Mar 2, 2018 at 10:34

Sardar Usama · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-02 11:10:44Z

4

If you have ≥ R2016b, you can use compose.

str = compose('%0.2f%%', mat);

str =

  2×3 cell array

    '0.00%'    '0.40%'    '0.20%'
    '0.00%'    '0.60%'    '0.80%'

For the older versions, using a loop (or arrayfun) is the straight-forward and elegant approach in my opinion.

res = arrayfun(@(x) sprintf('%.2f%%',x), mat,'un',0);

answered Mar 2, 2018 at 11:10

Sardar Usama

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1 Comment

Andi Over a year ago

I wasn't aware of the compose function. It's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

matlabgui · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-02 11:13:03Z

0

In instances like this a loop is generally fine, but you could do:

strread ( sprintf ( '%.2f%%\n', mat ), '%s', 'delimiter', '\n' )

But a loop is much easier to read going forward

As suggested by @SardarUsama you can also make it the same size as the original variable

reshape ( strread( sprintf ( '%.2f%%\n', mat ), '%s', 'delimiter', '\n' ), size(mat) )

P.S indeed strread is not recommended in the docs - but personally I find it a very useful function!! :)

edited Mar 2, 2018 at 11:13

answered Mar 2, 2018 at 10:42

matlabgui

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3 Comments

Sardar Usama Over a year ago

reshape at the end, no? reshape(strread (....., size(mat)) btw the use of strread is not recommended by Mathworks. Mathworks recommends textscan instead.

matlabgui Over a year ago

true yes you could add that too! :) Although in the comment OP said either 2x3 or array,

Sardar Usama Over a year ago

The OP said "cell array" or "string array" :)

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