When given a matrix value, Octave’s formatted output functions cycle through the format template until all the values in the matrix have been printed. For example:
printf ("%4.2f %10.2e %8.4g\n", hilb (3));
-| 1.00 5.00e-01 0.3333
-| 0.50 3.33e-01 0.25
-| 0.33 2.50e-01 0.2 If more than one value is to be printed in a single call, the output functions do not return to the beginning of the format template when moving on from one value to the next. This can lead to confusing output if the number of elements in the matrices are not exact multiples of the number of conversions in the format template. For example:
printf ("%4.2f %10.2e %8.4g\n", [1, 2], [3, 4]);
-| 1.00 2.00e+00 3
-| 4.00 If this is not what you want, use a series of calls instead of just one.
© 1996–2018 John W. Eaton
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https://octave.org/doc/interpreter/Output-Conversion-for-Matrices.html