Appyling format to fprintf function via an array lookup

I have a data file where I would like to automatically edit certain lines based on a user selection. Each line of the file I am editing has a different format. (ex. line 1 may be %4.1f whereas line 2 may be %6.2f)

Since the code is automated, and I don't know which lines the user would like to edit beforehand, I was planning on putting these formats into a string array. However, when I try to call from the array in the fprtinf function I get the following warning: "The function FPRINTF is apparently called with a cell array (argument 2)."

My code looks something like this (dumbed down version):

num_format = {'%4.1f' '%6.2f' '%5.3f'}; fprintf(fid,num_format(i),variable); (where i is [1,3])

Since MATLAB doesn't like my call to my lookup array in the fprintf function, is there another way to do this or correct my code?

Answer 1

[Jan]

Use curly braces to access cell elements:

num_format = {'%4.1f' '%6.2f' '%5.3f'};
fprintf(fid, num_format{i}, variable);