How do you format complex numbers for text output in matlab

Question

I have a complex number that I want to output as text using the fprintf command. I don't see a formatspec for complex numbers. Is there an easy way to do this?

Using the format spec for fixed-point is only outputting the real part.

Answer 1

According to the documentation of fprintf and sprintf

Numeric conversions print only the real component of complex numbers.

So for a complex value z you can use this

sprintf('%f + %fi\n', z, z/1i)

for example

>> z=2+3i; 
>> sprintf('%f + %fi\n', z, z/1i)
2.000000 + 3.000000i

You can wrap it in an anonymous function to get it easily as a string

zprintf = @(z) sprintf('%f + %fi', z, z/1i)

then

>> zprintf(2+3i)

ans =

2.000000 + 3.000000i