Formatting the output statement.

I have written a code to insert date in a column along with other variables (V1, V2, V3,...)

%Date
start={'01.01.2006'};
start1={'02.01.2006'};
stop={'31.12.2006'};    
new_start=datenum(start,'dd.mm.yyyy');
new_start1=datenum(start1,'dd.mm.yyyy');
new_stop=datenum(stop,'dd.mm.yyyy');
difference=new_start1-new_start;
out=new_start:difference:new_stop;
D_06=datestr(out,'dd-mm-yyyy');
D_2006=datenum(D_06,'dd-mm-yyyy');
[Y2006]=D_2006;

I have written a code to write the ouput in a file as follows:

fid = fopen('Sample1.xls','w');
fprintf(fid,'Date \t V1 \t V2 \t V3 \t V4\n');
%fprintf(fid,'2006\n');
V2006=[Y2006; V1_2006; V2_2006; V3_2006; V4_2006];
fprintf(fid,'%d \t %f \t %f \t  %f \t  %f \n',V2006);

But the date is being written in 5 columns instead of one colum, what is the problem with the output format statement. Kindly help. Thanks in advance. Regards. Mohan.

[Sara]

What are V1_2006; V2_2006; V3_2006; V4_2006?

If you want one column, you'll have to replace \t with \n in the last line.

[Mohana]

V1_2006; V2_2006; V3_2006; V4_2006 are four different variables for the year 2006 (daily)

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

This is probably what you wanted to write:

fid = fopen('Sample1.xls','wt'); %Use 'wt' for text files. Why is the extension xls when it's a text file? 
fprintf(fid,'Date \t V1 \t V2 \t V3 \t V4\n');
V2006 = [Y2006, V1_2006, V2_2006, V3_2006, V4_2006]; %note: HORIZONTAL concatenation instead of vertical
fprintf(fid,'%d \t %f \t %f \t  %f \t  %f \n',V2006);
fclose(fid);

However, a much simpler way is to use writetable:

V2006 = [Y2006, V1_2006, V2_2006, V3_2006, V4_2006];
t = array2table(V2006, 'VariableNames', {'Date', 'V1', 'V2', 'V3', 'V4'});
writetable(t, 'Sample1.txt', 'Delimiter', '\t'); %If you give it an xls extension, it'll write an Excel file.

[Mohana]

Thanks so there is a difference in using ; and ,. Regards. Mohan.

[Guillaume]

There is a major difference between the two. , is horizontal concatenation, ; is vertical concatenation.