num2str default format

I want to print multiple values using fprintf, but with the same number formatting as num2str. Is there a format string that will give the same behavior as num2str?

Answer 1

[dpb]

'%.5g'

is default format iirc what num2str does and the way %g counts precision.

[Stephen23]

>> num = intmax('uint32');
>> num2str(num)
ans =
4294967295
>> sprintf('%.5g',num)
ans =
4.295e+09

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

no. num2str does a bunch of width calculations and chooses output format based on integer vs floating point

[Ilya Gurin]

Haha, I want to accept both your answers. sprintf(pi, '%.5g') and num2str(pi) are the same. If I scale the input up by 1E10 or 1E100, the results are different, but I think I like the behavior of '%.5g' better.