write multiple line of text into a text file

Simple question; I have this variable which I want easily write to a text file (it can be a hundred of lines, I just cut it into 4 to fit here)

app.DCMtxt.Value

ans =

4×1 cell array

    '3  Message(s) transmitted '
    ''
    '      ws      BUS     ID     Rx    Node    DLC    Cycle    Extended'
    '    ______    ___    ____    __    ____    ___    _____    ________'

[per isakson]

"easily write to a text file" Does this qualify as easy?

len = size( app.DCMtxt.Value, 1 );
fid = fopen('output.txt','w');
for jj = 1 : len
    fprintf( fid, '%\s\n', app.DCMtxt.Value{jj,1} );
end
fclose(fid);

[Rik]

Of course, you should make sure your cell is indeed (n x 1). For other cases you need to think what you want to do with the extra cols.

[Ali]

Thanks for the replies. Per, it does not write to the file. I also get: Warning: Escaped character '\s' is not valid. See 'doc sprintf' for supported special characters. I see it reads it line by line, nice!

[Ali]

looks like Per's answer had a typo and otherwise working well, so I'm reposting it with minor change as an answer

fid = fopen('output.txt','w');
for jj = 1 : size( app.DCMtxt.Value, 1 )
    fprintf( fid, '%s\n', app.DCMtxt.Value{jj,1} );
end
fclose(fid);

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

 fid = fopen('output.txt','w'); 
fprintf(fid, '%s\n',app.DCMtxt.Value{:}) ;
fclose(fid) ;

[Stephen23]

+1. Tip for windows users: use 'wt' instead of 'w'.

[Jan]

@Stephen: Even under Windows 'w' works perfectly. Only the Notepad shipped with Windows has problem with displaying non-DOS linebreaks. Use e.g. Notepad++, WordPad or Matlab's editor instead. M-files use \n instead of \r\n for more than 10 years now, even under Windows.

[Rik]

You might need to replace the control characters:

escaped_cellstr=app.DCMtxt.Value;
escaped_cellstr=strrep(escaped_cellstr,'%','%%');
escaped_cellstr=strrep(escaped_cellstr,'/','//');
fid = fopen('output.txt','w'); 
fprintf(fid, '%s\n',escaped_cellstr) ;
fclose(fid) ;

[Walter Roberson]

No, Rik, that is not needed. That would only be needed if you were using the string content inside the format. For example, the following would be a problem:

fid = fopen('output.txt','w');
for jj = 1 : size( app.DCMtxt.Value, 1 )
  fprintf( fid, app.DCMtxt.Value{jj,1} );
  fprintf( fid, '\n' );
end
fclose(fid);

Answer 2

[Will Wilson]

If you didn't want to use a for loop directly you could use a newer datatype called a table and one if it's helper functions to get the job done. Here is an example:

% Convert your [m x 1] cell array into a MATLAB table.
data = cell2table(app.DCMtxt.Value);

% (Optionally) name the column in your table.
data.Properties.VariableNames = {'DataSet'};

% Write the table out to a text file.
writetable(data,'OutputData');

This should do the trick. Ultimately it will depend on how much control you need on the text file you write out.