(octave.info)String Input Conversions

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14.2.15 String Input Conversions
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This section describes the ‘scanf’ input conversions for reading string
and character values: ‘%s’ and ‘%c’.

   The ‘%c’ conversion is the simplest: it matches a fixed number of
characters, always.  The maximum field with says how many characters to
read; if you don’t specify the maximum, the default is 1.  This
conversion does not skip over initial whitespace characters.  It reads
precisely the next N characters, and fails if it cannot get that many.

   The ‘%s’ conversion matches a string of non-whitespace characters.
It skips and discards initial whitespace, but stops when it encounters
more whitespace after having read something.

   For example, reading the input:

      hello, world

with the conversion ‘%10c’ produces " hello, wo", but reading the same
input with the conversion ‘%10s’ produces "hello,".