NumberFormatter

Flexible number formatting using java.

Here is a simple example how to use java.text to format numbers using similar syntax to Excel's. # for a number or space, 0 for a number or zero, etc...

I found this useful for plots. I wanted the ability to have tic labels formatted with commas. Rather then writing my own, I use the ability to call java from matlab.

Example:

NumberFormatter(1e4*rand(5,1),'0,000.000')
ans =
'7,452.920'
'6,511.113'
'4,545.918'
'5,231.557'
'5,120.765'

To utilize with plotting:

plot(1:5,2:6);
XTicksVec=str2num(get(gca,'XTickLabel'));
XTicksCell=NumberFormatter(XTicksVec,'0.0');
set(gca,'XTickLabel',XTicksCell);

This works as is for my needs, but I welcome any suggestions for improvement.