Parametrize return arguments in fprintf

Dear all,

I have a line of code which outputs a string to a file:

fprintf(fid, '\r\nSomething\r\n')

I would like to echo this string to the command window, which I achieve with the following:

fprintf(1.0, '\nSomething\n')

However, I don't want to have to write the same fprintf statement twice, so I tried this:

location = [fid, 1.0];
conversion = {'\r\n', '\n'};

for i = 1:2
    fprintf(location(i), '%sSomething%s', conversion{i}, conversion{i})
end

The problem is that I see the following in the command window:

\nSomething\n>>

Instead of:

Something
>>

How can I format the string so that '\n' is recognised as a return, rather than a plain string?

Many thanks,

Louis Vallance

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

You’re passing the control sequences as strings. You need to concatenate them instead.

This works:

fprintf(location(i), [conversion{i} 'Something' conversion{i}])

[fsgeek]

Perfect, thanks!

Louis

[Star Strider]

My pleasure!

[Image Analyst]

Personally, I think, as a non-author of the code, that it would be so much easier to understand and follow the code if you had just called fprintf() twice like you said, instead of doing this more complicated thing.

[fsgeek]

Fair point, but I have over 300 of these statements so this solution is much more practical, especially if I want to change any of the strings later. It's also not difficult to understand provided the code is well-commented.