MATLAB Programming Tips - The MathWorks - #39

''Crcating Strini^ wiLl'i Concatenation" on page 1-31 "Comparing Methodw of Ooncatenation" on page 1-31 "Store Arrays of Strings in a Celi Array" on page 1-32 ''Convertirig l'.etween Sli'ing.s and (.'oli Arrays" on page 1-32 "Search and Keplace Csing liegiilar Kxpressions" on page 1-32

Strings are often created by concatenating smaller elements together (e.g., strings, values, etc.). Two common methods of concatenating are to use the MATLAB® concatenation operator ([ J) or the sprintf function. The second and third line below illustrate both of these methods. Both lines give the

numChars = 28;

s = ['There are ¹ int2str(numChars| ¹ characters here'] s = sprintf('There are %d characters here\n', numChars)

For more information: See and Converting from Numeric to String in the MATLAB Programming Fundamental.- documentation.

When building strings with concatenation, sprintf is often preferable to [ ] because

• It is easier to read, especially when forming complicated expressions " It gives you more control over the output format " It often executes more quickly

You can also concatenate using the strcat function, However, for simple concatenations, sprintf and [ ] are faster.