How do I make the same output using the fprintf() command instead of disp()?

Hello, this is my first question on here and I notice Answerers are sometimes frustrated by questions, so I hope this question does not anger anyone. I am trying to use fprintf() instead of the disp() and have the exact same output. Here's the editor window and output:

editor:

A = [1 2 3;4 5 6;7 8 9];
[m,n] = size(A);
for i = 1:m
 for j = 1:n
   disp(['A(',num2str(i),',',num2str(j),') = ',num2str(A(i,j))])
 end
end

output:
>> Practice9
A(1,1) = 1
A(1,2) = 2
A(1,3) = 3
A(2,1) = 4
A(2,2) = 5
A(2,3) = 6
A(3,1) = 7
A(3,2) = 8
A(3,3) = 9
>> 

%Also, this is what I attempted to do, but got a 'horzcat' error
%what is that???

A = [1 2 3;4 5 6;7 8 9];
[m,n] = size(A);
for i = 1:m
 for j = 1:n
     fprintf(['A(','(%s,','%s) = ','%f',i,j,A])
%%    disp(['A(',num2str(i),',',num2str(j),') = ',num2str(A(i,j))])
 end
end

[Adam]

You don't want square brackets in a fprintf. The first argument should just be a single char array (a string basically, but I'm not 100% sure if the string datatype is supported or not, which is why I call it a char array specifically) with the %s type things as you have for the formatting, but don't put it in square brackets to try to concatenate anything. It is a single string with formatted inputs defined, as you have done, by the subsequent arguments. That may not be the only problem, but it is the one I notice and that will likely lead to the horzcat error.

The whole thing needs to be a single string too e.g.

'A(%i,%i) = %f'

[Guillaume]

As of R2018b, string arrays should be supported by all functions in matlab (toolboxes are another matter). Before R2018b support was a bit spotty but fprintf supported strings since they were introduced in R2016b.

[Guillaume]

"Answerers are sometimes frustrated"

Actually, I think we're very tolerant. The thing that tend to frustrate us is people copy/pasting their homework question without even trying to solve it themselves or people saying it doesn't work without further explanation.

Your question is well detailed. Nobody is going to get frustrated by that.

[madhan ravi]

see my answer below

[Adam Hernandez]

Thank you! Very well explained!

[Adam Hernandez]

Thank you to everyone for the input!!! It is very much appreciated, especially at this hour.

Answer 1

[madhan ravi]

Replace disp with:

fprintf('A(%d,%d)=%d\n',i,j,A(i,j))

[Adam Hernandez]

Thank you so much!!! I overcomplicated this question by a lot.

[madhan ravi]

Anytime :) , welcome to MATLAB!

[Adam Hernandez]

Also, just for clarification on the fprintf command... when are brackets needed and what type of output will it reveal? I now know brackets are not necessary when you are inputting multiple variables into fprintf(), but why not? The concept behind fprintf is much different than disp().

For example: fprintf(['string',variable1,variable2])

[madhan ravi]

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/35676-why-not-use-square-brackets#answer_252096 , there is nothing wrong in it but it's superflous

[Adam]

Well, where you use them you are also encompassing the arguments that are to be inserted in place of the placeholder %d formatting specifiers. These need to be distinct arguments to fprintf, they are not part of the string first argument. Other than that, as madhan ravi says, they are mostly just superfluous if you are putting them only around the initial string part of the argument.

disp is different because you have to put together the combination of bits of the string and numeric components which have to be converted to string yourself, thus you concatenate all these components.

fprintf does that for you via those %d format specifiers so that you can just give a single formatting string, then supply the arguments that will be inserted in-place of those format specifiers. fprintf will handle converting them to the type you request (e.g. %i converts to an integer, %f to float, %s inserts as a string, etc).