Formatting Strings with Format Specifiers

To use data in another VI, function, or application, you often must convert the data to a string and then format the string in a way that the VI, function, or application can read. Use format specifiers in LabVIEW to format typed data into strings or to interpret typed data from strings.

For example, Microsoft Excel expects strings that include delimiters, such as tab, commas, or blank spaces. Excel uses the delimiter to segregate numbers or words into cells.

In many cases, formatting a string involves entering one or more format specifiers in the format string parameter of a String function. The format specifier is the code that indicates how to interpret a string. Optionally, you can add literal strings in the format string.

You can use format specifiers to format strings, convert a number into a string, and insert non-displayable characters in strings.