False size for row vector

I would like to create the row vector T1=[1 2 4 8 14 15 9 16 17 5 10 18 19 1 21 20 3 6 12 13 7] with one column 1-21, which is seperated in column 1-19 and 20-21 but I always get the column 1-17 and 18-21.

What can I do to get the right sizing?

[Steven Lord]

I don't understand what you're asking. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the ordering of the elements in T1, and I'm not sure what you mean by "is separated in column 1-19". Do you perhaps mean you want the Command Window to display columns 1 through 19 of T1 on one line then display columns 20 through the end on the next line?

[Sveva]

Yes, exactly.

[Sveva]

Do I need to go in preferences? What can I change? Thanks in advance

[Torsten]

Yes:

https://uk.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/command-window-preferences.html

[Sveva]

Thank you for your answer. Do you know what I need to change in particular?

[Steven Lord]

Note that what you see in the Command Window only affects how the vector is displayed. It doesn't change the actual size of the vector at all, if that's part or all of your concern. You can display a 20 element vector with a Command Window that's just wide enough for 2 elements per row or wide enough for 200 elements per row. It doesn't change the fact that the vector is stored with 20 elements.

I've seen plenty of questions where people thought changes to how data in MATLAB is displayed also changed how it is stored, and that's not usually the case. Calling round or reshape, for example, would change the stored data or the stored size of the array and those changes would impact how it is displayed. But changing the size of the Command Window (to show more or fewer elements per line) or using the format function (to change how many decimal places are displayed) are cosmetic changes only.

[Torsten]

So it's not possible to prescribe the format with which results are displayed in the Command Window ?

Like the write(6,'(...)') in old FORTRAN e.g. ? Like "fprintf" or "sprintf" for writing in files ?

[Steven Lord]

With the standard display? No, not really. You have some control of the display format but that doesn't give you fine-grained control ("I want exactly N elements per line", for example.)

disp(0.5+(1:100))

  Columns 1 through 19

    1.5000    2.5000    3.5000    4.5000    5.5000    6.5000    7.5000    8.5000    9.5000   10.5000   11.5000   12.5000   13.5000   14.5000   15.5000   16.5000   17.5000   18.5000   19.5000

  Columns 20 through 38

   20.5000   21.5000   22.5000   23.5000   24.5000   25.5000   26.5000   27.5000   28.5000   29.5000   30.5000   31.5000   32.5000   33.5000   34.5000   35.5000   36.5000   37.5000   38.5000

  Columns 39 through 57

   39.5000   40.5000   41.5000   42.5000   43.5000   44.5000   45.5000   46.5000   47.5000   48.5000   49.5000   50.5000   51.5000   52.5000   53.5000   54.5000   55.5000   56.5000   57.5000

  Columns 58 through 76

   58.5000   59.5000   60.5000   61.5000   62.5000   63.5000   64.5000   65.5000   66.5000   67.5000   68.5000   69.5000   70.5000   71.5000   72.5000   73.5000   74.5000   75.5000   76.5000

  Columns 77 through 95

   77.5000   78.5000   79.5000   80.5000   81.5000   82.5000   83.5000   84.5000   85.5000   86.5000   87.5000   88.5000   89.5000   90.5000   91.5000   92.5000   93.5000   94.5000   95.5000

  Columns 96 through 100

   96.5000   97.5000   98.5000   99.5000  100.5000

format long % long fixed point format
format compact % suppress excess blank lines
disp(0.5+(1:100))

   1.0e+02 *
  Columns 1 through 9
   0.015000000000000   0.025000000000000   0.035000000000000   0.045000000000000   0.055000000000000   0.065000000000000   0.075000000000000   0.085000000000000   0.095000000000000
  Columns 10 through 18
   0.105000000000000   0.115000000000000   0.125000000000000   0.135000000000000   0.145000000000000   0.155000000000000   0.165000000000000   0.175000000000000   0.185000000000000
  Columns 19 through 27
   0.195000000000000   0.205000000000000   0.215000000000000   0.225000000000000   0.235000000000000   0.245000000000000   0.255000000000000   0.265000000000000   0.275000000000000
  Columns 28 through 36
   0.285000000000000   0.295000000000000   0.305000000000000   0.315000000000000   0.325000000000000   0.335000000000000   0.345000000000000   0.355000000000000   0.365000000000000
  Columns 37 through 45
   0.375000000000000   0.385000000000000   0.395000000000000   0.405000000000000   0.415000000000000   0.425000000000000   0.435000000000000   0.445000000000000   0.455000000000000
  Columns 46 through 54
   0.465000000000000   0.475000000000000   0.485000000000000   0.495000000000000   0.505000000000000   0.515000000000000   0.525000000000000   0.535000000000000   0.545000000000000
  Columns 55 through 63
   0.555000000000000   0.565000000000000   0.575000000000000   0.585000000000000   0.595000000000000   0.605000000000000   0.615000000000000   0.625000000000000   0.635000000000000
  Columns 64 through 72
   0.645000000000000   0.655000000000000   0.665000000000000   0.675000000000000   0.685000000000000   0.695000000000000   0.705000000000000   0.715000000000000   0.725000000000000
  Columns 73 through 81
   0.735000000000000   0.745000000000000   0.755000000000000   0.765000000000000   0.775000000000000   0.785000000000000   0.795000000000000   0.805000000000000   0.815000000000000
  Columns 82 through 90
   0.825000000000000   0.835000000000000   0.845000000000000   0.855000000000000   0.865000000000000   0.875000000000000   0.885000000000000   0.895000000000000   0.905000000000000
  Columns 91 through 99
   0.915000000000000   0.925000000000000   0.935000000000000   0.945000000000000   0.955000000000000   0.965000000000000   0.975000000000000   0.985000000000000   0.995000000000000
  Column 100
   1.005000000000000

With a command like fprintf? Sure, as long as you can construct the format string to your specifications. Note that the format string in this example does not contain a newline, so fprintf prints it all as one long line of text.

fprintf('%g\t', 0.5+(1:100))

1.5	2.5	3.5	4.5	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5	9.5	10.5	11.5	12.5	13.5	14.5	15.5	16.5	17.5	18.5	19.5	20.5	21.5	22.5	23.5	24.5	25.5	26.5	27.5	28.5	29.5	30.5	31.5	32.5	33.5	34.5	35.5	36.5	37.5	38.5	39.5	40.5	41.5	42.5	43.5	44.5	45.5	46.5	47.5	48.5	49.5	50.5	51.5	52.5	53.5	54.5	55.5	56.5	57.5	58.5	59.5	60.5	61.5	62.5	63.5	64.5	65.5	66.5	67.5	68.5	69.5	70.5	71.5	72.5	73.5	74.5	75.5	76.5	77.5	78.5	79.5	80.5	81.5	82.5	83.5	84.5	85.5	86.5	87.5	88.5	89.5	90.5	91.5	92.5	93.5	94.5	95.5	96.5	97.5	98.5	99.5	100.5	

If I wanted to display this in lines of say 60 characters, I could do that using sprintf to create the text then textwrap to wrap it.

s = sprintf('%g  ', 0.5+(1:100));
s2 = string(textwrap({s}, 60))

s2 = 10×1 string array
    "1.5  2.5  3.5  4.5  5.5  6.5  7.5  8.5  9.5  10.5  11.5  "
    "12.5  13.5  14.5  15.5  16.5  17.5  18.5  19.5  20.5  21.5  "
    "22.5  23.5  24.5  25.5  26.5  27.5  28.5  29.5  30.5  31.5  "
    "32.5  33.5  34.5  35.5  36.5  37.5  38.5  39.5  40.5  41.5  "
    "42.5  43.5  44.5  45.5  46.5  47.5  48.5  49.5  50.5  51.5  "
    "52.5  53.5  54.5  55.5  56.5  57.5  58.5  59.5  60.5  61.5  "
    "62.5  63.5  64.5  65.5  66.5  67.5  68.5  69.5  70.5  71.5  "
    "72.5  73.5  74.5  75.5  76.5  77.5  78.5  79.5  80.5  81.5  "
    "82.5  83.5  84.5  85.5  86.5  87.5  88.5  89.5  90.5  91.5  "
    "92.5  93.5  94.5  95.5  96.5  97.5  98.5  99.5  100.5"

strlength(s2)

ans = 10×1

57 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 53

[Torsten]

That's helpful. Many thanks @Steven Lord

Answer 1

[Ayush Anand]

Hi Sveva,

The MATLAB command window has a default width that determines how many columns of a vector it will display on one line before wrapping around to the next line. If you're seeing the vector T1 split into two lines with the first line showing elements 1-17 and the second line showing elements 18-21, this is due to the command window's width settings.

MATLAB automatically formats the output to fit within the command window's width. You cannot directly control where the line break occurs in the command window's display of a long vector. However, you can manually drag and resize the command window width to change where the break occurs. A wide enough command window will display all the elements in one row, you can do trial and error to resize the window to get columns 1-19 and 20-21.

I hope this helps!

[Sveva]

Hi Ayush, thank you for your help! What do you mean exactly with "manually drag and resize"; how can I acchieve this?

[Voss]

https://www.computerhope.com/cdn/resize.gif