Question

I have an array which looks like this:

    cloud =

7.5059   51.4406
7.5057   51.4445
7.5048   51.4484
7.5034   51.4522
7.5014   51.4558
7.4989   51.4593
7.4958   51.4627
7.4923   51.4658
7.4884   51.4686
.
.

all i want is to write this array to a text file as it is, in the same format. I tried both fprintf and dlmwritebut i’m able to produce the exact same format. I know its an easy one, but I’m only asking after trying a lot.

Answer 1

Have you looked into string formatting?

fid = fopen( 'myFile.txt', 'w' );
for ii=1:size(cloud,1)
    fprintf( fid, '%.5g\t%.5g\r\n', cloud(ii,1), cloud(ii,2) );
end
fclose( fid ); % do not forget to close the file :-)

Have you considered saveing into ascii file?

save( 'myFile.txt', 'cloud', '-ascii', '-tabs' );

EDIT:

1. End-of-line issue: for text file there are several way of marking the end of line: On windows it is usually required to print \r\n, for Mac and Linux sometimes it is enough to use \r and sometimes \n (I’m not 100% sure). So, you might need to experiment with it a bit to find out what works best for your machine. (Thanks @Rody for correcting me here)

2. Accuracy: the number in the formatting string %.5g determines the accuracy of the printed number. Again, you can play with it till you are satisfied with the results.