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<h4 class="subsection">14.2.4 Formatted Output</h4>
<p>This section describes how to call <code>printf</code> and related functions.
<p>The following functions are available for formatted output. They are
modelled after the C language functions of the same name, but they
interpret the format template differently in order to improve the
performance of printing vector and matrix values.
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<p><a name="doc_002dprintf"></a>
<div class="defun">
— Built-in Function: <b>printf</b> (<var>template, <small class="dots">...</small></var>)<var><a name="index-printf-781"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p>Print optional arguments under the control of the template string
<var>template</var> to the stream <code>stdout</code> and return the number of
characters printed.
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<p class="noindent"><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="doc_002dfprintf.html#doc_002dfprintf">fprintf</a>, <a href="doc_002dsprintf.html#doc_002dsprintf">sprintf</a>, <a href="doc_002dscanf.html#doc_002dscanf">scanf</a>.
</p></blockquote></div>
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<p><a name="doc_002dfprintf"></a>
<div class="defun">
— Built-in Function: <b>fprintf</b> (<var>fid, template, <small class="dots">...</small></var>)<var><a name="index-fprintf-782"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p>This function is just like <code>printf</code>, except that the output is
written to the stream <var>fid</var> instead of <code>stdout</code>.
If <var>fid</var> is omitted, the output is written to <code>stdout</code>.
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<p class="noindent"><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="doc_002dprintf.html#doc_002dprintf">printf</a>, <a href="doc_002dsprintf.html#doc_002dsprintf">sprintf</a>, <a href="doc_002dfread.html#doc_002dfread">fread</a>, <a href="doc_002dfscanf.html#doc_002dfscanf">fscanf</a>, <a href="doc_002dfopen.html#doc_002dfopen">fopen</a>, <a href="doc_002dfclose.html#doc_002dfclose">fclose</a>.
</p></blockquote></div>
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<p><a name="doc_002dsprintf"></a>
<div class="defun">
— Built-in Function: <b>sprintf</b> (<var>template, <small class="dots">...</small></var>)<var><a name="index-sprintf-783"></a></var><br>
<blockquote><p>This is like <code>printf</code>, except that the output is returned as a
string. Unlike the C library function, which requires you to provide a
suitably sized string as an argument, Octave's <code>sprintf</code> function
returns the string, automatically sized to hold all of the items
converted.
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<p class="noindent"><strong>See also:</strong> <a href="doc_002dprintf.html#doc_002dprintf">printf</a>, <a href="doc_002dfprintf.html#doc_002dfprintf">fprintf</a>, <a href="doc_002dsscanf.html#doc_002dsscanf">sscanf</a>.
</p></blockquote></div>
<p>The <code>printf</code> function can be used to print any number of arguments.
The template string argument you supply in a call provides
information not only about the number of additional arguments, but also
about their types and what style should be used for printing them.
<p>Ordinary characters in the template string are simply written to the
output stream as-is, while <dfn>conversion specifications</dfn> introduced by
a ‘<samp><span class="samp">%</span></samp>’ character in the template cause subsequent arguments to be
formatted and written to the output stream. For example,
<a name="index-conversion-specifications-_0028_0040code_007bprintf_007d_0029-784"></a>
<pre class="example"> pct = 37;
filename = "foo.txt";
printf ("Processed %d%% of `%s'.\nPlease be patient.\n",
pct, filename);
</pre>
<p class="noindent">produces output like
<pre class="example"> Processed 37% of `foo.txt'.
Please be patient.
</pre>
<p>This example shows the use of the ‘<samp><span class="samp">%d</span></samp>’ conversion to specify that a
scalar argument should be printed in decimal notation, the ‘<samp><span class="samp">%s</span></samp>’
conversion to specify printing of a string argument, and the ‘<samp><span class="samp">%%</span></samp>’
conversion to print a literal ‘<samp><span class="samp">%</span></samp>’ character.
<p>There are also conversions for printing an integer argument as an
unsigned value in octal, decimal, or hexadecimal radix (‘<samp><span class="samp">%o</span></samp>’,
‘<samp><span class="samp">%u</span></samp>’, or ‘<samp><span class="samp">%x</span></samp>’, respectively); or as a character value
(‘<samp><span class="samp">%c</span></samp>’).
<p>Floating-point numbers can be printed in normal, fixed-point notation
using the ‘<samp><span class="samp">%f</span></samp>’ conversion or in exponential notation using the
‘<samp><span class="samp">%e</span></samp>’ conversion. The ‘<samp><span class="samp">%g</span></samp>’ conversion uses either ‘<samp><span class="samp">%e</span></samp>’
or ‘<samp><span class="samp">%f</span></samp>’ format, depending on what is more appropriate for the
magnitude of the particular number.
<p>You can control formatting more precisely by writing <dfn>modifiers</dfn>
between the ‘<samp><span class="samp">%</span></samp>’ and the character that indicates which conversion
to apply. These slightly alter the ordinary behavior of the conversion.
For example, most conversion specifications permit you to specify a
minimum field width and a flag indicating whether you want the result
left- or right-justified within the field.
<p>The specific flags and modifiers that are permitted and their
interpretation vary depending on the particular conversion. They're all
described in more detail in the following sections.
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