`pad`

Adds leading or trailing spaces to text.

Category: Language Fundamentals > Data Types

Syntax

newStr = pad(str)

Pads every element on the right to the length of the longest one.

newStr = pad(str, n)

Pads to at least n characters.

newStr = pad(str, side)

Pads on the side given: 'left', 'right' (default) or 'both'.

newStr = pad(str, n, side)

Combines both.

Description

pad only lengthens text; it never truncates. With no length argument it makes all elements of a string array the same width, which is handy for aligned output.

Input arguments

str: String array, character vector or cell array of character vectors.
n: Target length in characters.
side: 'left', 'right' or 'both'.

Output arguments

newStr: Text of the same type as str. Elements already long enough are unchanged.

Example

pad("abc", 6) + "|"
pad("abc", 6, 'left') + "|"
pad(["a", "bbb"]) + "|"

Output

ans = "abc   |"
ans = "   abc|"
ans = 1×2 string array

    "a  |"    "bbb|"

pad