# format

## Purpose

Control the output display format.

## Synopsis

See "Description" below.

## Description

`format` switches between different display formats:

    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Command          Result                       Example
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    format short     5 digit scaled fixed point   3.1416
    format long      15 digit scaled fixed point  3.14159265358979
    format short e   5 digit floating-point       3.1416e+00
    format long e    16 digit floating-point      3.141592653589793e+00
    format hex       Hexadecimal                  400921fb54442d18
    format bank      Fixed dollars and cents      3.14
    format rat       Ratio of small integers      355/113
    format +         +,-, blank                  +
    format compact   Suppresses excess line
                     feeds and results in a
                     slightly more compact dis
                     play. Does not affect the
                     numeric format.
    format loose     Reverts to the more open
                     display. Does not affect
                     the numeric format.
    format           Returns to the default for
                     mats, short and loose.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------

By default, MATLAB displays numbers in a short format with five decimal digits.

## Algorithms

`format` `+` displays +, -, and blank characters for positive, negative, and zero elements. The `spy` function uses graphics to display essentially the same information more effectively. `format` `hex` displays the hexadecimal representation of the binary double-precision number for each element. `format` `rat` uses a continued fraction algorithm to approximate floating-point values by ratios of small integers. See `rat.m` for the complete code in an M-file.

## See Also

`fprintf`, `num2str`, `rat`, `sprintf`, `spy`

(c) Copyright 1994 by The MathWorks, Inc.