How to go to the next line in MATLAB?

In MATLAB, you go to the next line primarily by including a newline character within your text output or strings. The recommended way to insert a newline character is using the newline constant.

Based on the reference, c = newline creates a newline character. The newline constant is equivalent to char(10) or the escape sequence \n used within sprintf. You insert this character where you want the line break to occur.

Using the newline Character

The newline constant is the most readable and platform-independent way to insert a line break in recent MATLAB versions.

Syntax:

Simply use newline within your string or command.

Examples:

Here are common ways to use newline or its equivalents:

• With disp: The disp function automatically interprets newline characters.

  disp(['This is the first line.', newline, 'This is the second line.']);

  Output:

  This is the first line.
  This is the second line.

• With fprintf: The fprintf function is often used for formatted output to the Command Window or files. You can use the %s format specifier with newline or directly use the \n escape sequence.

  fprintf('First line here.%sSecond line starts.\n', newline);
  fprintf('Another way using just \\n.\nThird line.\n');

  Output:

  First line here.
  Second line starts.
  Another way using just \n.
  Third line.

  Note: \n inside single quotes ' ' requires fprintf to interpret it as an escape sequence. newline is a character array, so %s is suitable with fprintf.

• Building String Variables: You can concatenate strings with newline to create multiline strings.

  myString = ['Line A', newline, 'Line B', newline, 'Line C'];
  disp(myString);

  Output:

  Line A
  Line B
  Line C

  Alternatively, using sprintf to build the string:

  myString_sprintf = sprintf('Line A\nLine B\nLine C');
  disp(myString_sprintf);

Equivalent Methods (char(10) and \n)

As stated by the reference, newline is equivalent to char(10) and sprintf('\n').

• char(10): This creates the ASCII character for line feed (LF), which is the standard newline character on Unix-like systems and interpreted as a newline by MATLAB functions.

  disp(['Using char(10): Line 1', char(10), 'Line 2']);

• \n: This is an escape sequence representing the newline character, typically used within sprintf format strings or string literals interpreted by sprintf.

  fprintf('Using \\n in fprintf: Line 1\nLine 2\n');

Comparison Table

Method	Description	Common Usage	Notes
newline	Standard, platform-independent newline constant	disp, String concatenation	Recommended method
char(10)	ASCII Line Feed character	disp, String concatenation	Works but newline is more explicit
\n	Escape sequence for newline	fprintf, sprintf	Used within format strings or interpreted literals

Using newline is generally preferred for clarity and robustness across different operating systems and MATLAB versions.