[Matlab] format a string to a specific length

function outStr=formatStr(inStr,nLen,opt) % pad the input string to specified length with blank space % usage: %           outStr=formatStr(inStr,expected-Length [,align-option]) %           if align-option == 0 'right-align' [ by default ] %                               == 1 'center-align' %                               == 2 'left-align' % history: %            Feb 24 2012: first coded for myShowNc %  http://scriptdemo.blogspot.com if nargin==1    nLen=0; elseif nargin==2    opt=0; elseif nargin~=3    help formatStr;    return end oriLen=length(inStr); if (oriLen>=nLen)     outStr=inStr; else     switch (opt)         case {0}             nSpace=nLen-oriLen;             outStr=[repmat(' ',1,nSpace),inStr];         case {1}           nSpace=ceil(0.5*(nLen-oriLen));           outStr=[repmat(' ',1,nSpace),inStr];           nSpace=nLen-oriLen-nSpace;           if (nSpace>0)              outStr=[outStr,repmat(' ',1,nSpace)];           end         case {2}             nSpace=nLen-oriLen;             outStr=[inStr,repmat(' ',1,nSpace)];         otherwise             disp('Unknown option');             return     end end