NUM2ENG: Fast number to engineering notation (SI) conversion

Engineering notation is similar to scientific notation, except that
the exponent power of 10 is always an integer multiple of 3, and the
mantissa is scaled so that it lies inside [0,1000). The range of
exponents for which a SI-prefix is available goes from 10^-24 to 10^24.
Examples (of scalar inputs):
- num2eng(4700)
ans = '4.7 k'
- num2eng(82000,[1 4], 'FullName',true)
ans = '82 kilo'
- num2eng(1000,4)
ans = '1.000 k'
- num2eng(-3.527e6,3)
ans = '-3.53 M'
- num2eng(9999,[1 2])
ans = '10 k'
- num2eng(999,3)
ans = '999'
- num2eng(100, 'ForceExponent',3)
ans = '0.1 k'
- [ 'Distance: ', num2eng(4.2e4, 'FullName',true, 'Unit','meter') ]
ans = 'Distance: 42 kilometers'
- [ 'Distance: ', num2eng(1e3, 'FullName',true, 'Unit','meter') ]
ans = 'Distance: 1 kilometer'
Syntax:
eng = num2eng(num) returns a string containing the engineering
notation of 'num'. 'num' can be any numerical scalar, vector or
matrix. If the input isn't scalar the output is a cellstring with
the same shape as in the input. The number of significant figures
defaults to up to 5 ( 'sigfigs'=[1 5] ). The output contains a
space between the number and the prefix part, but doesn't have
trailing whitespaces.
__ = num2eng(num,sigfigs) gives control over the number of
significant figures in the output. sigfigs must be positive. It can
either be a scalar or two-element vector describing [min max]. In
the latter case trailing zeros are, if applicable, omitted.
__ = num2eng(__,Name,Value,...) allows the user to specify one or
more of these options to take effect:
- 'SynchronizeExponents' : (false) / 'min' / 'max' / 'median'
Causes the outputs to all have the same SI-prefix/exponent. The
value for this ('min','max' or 'median') determines what
SI-prefix is chosen when values in num are of varying orders of
magnitude.
- 'ForceExponent' : (false) / [exp] / [min max]
Forces all outputs to have a given exponent or confines them
within a given minimum and maximum exponent range. Exponent
values must be multiples of 3. If this option is present,
'SynchronizeExponents' is ignored.
- 'DistinctOutput' : (false) / true
Ensures distinct outputs. The maximum number of significant
figures is increased as needed to achieve this.
- 'OmitSpace' : (false) / true
Omits the whitespace between the number and the SI-prefix. This
option is ignored if there are two output arguments.
- 'FullName' : (false) / true
Writes prefixes as full names instead of one-letter
abbreviations.

- 'Unit' : (false) / 'unit' / {'unit1','unit2',...}
Appends the given unit string(s) to the output. If a cell-array
is provided, it must have the same number of elements as the
'num' input. If necessary 'reshape' is called to match the
shape of 'num'. Each unit string gets processed by 'strtrim'.
Written out units should be given in singular form. Whenever
the printed value is not '1', a plural 's' is appended to the
unit string. If there are two output arguments and the exponent
is forced to a single value ( via the option 'ForceExponent'
with a single exponent or via 'SynchronizeExponents' ), '(s)'
or 's' is appended to the second output, depending on if some,
but not all, or all printed values are not '1'. No plural 's'
is appended if the unit string already ends with a 's'.

- 'NoPlural' : (false) / true
Disables the automatic appending of a plural 's' to the unit.
This option is ignored if full names aren't effective aswell.

All options default to false, which disables them. The option
names can be abbreviated as long as they remain unambigious.
A working set of short names is 'sync', 'force', 'distinct',
'omit', 'full', 'unit' and 'nop'. The shortest possible set of
names is 's', 'fo', d', 'fu', 'u' and 'n'.

[num,sip] = num2eng(num,__) returns number and SI-prefix part
separately. Neither part contains a whitespace. If the input 'num'
isn't scalar, the output 'num' is a cellstring. 'sip' is a
cellstring if the input 'num' isn't scalar and the exponent in the
output isn't forced to a single value ( via the options
'SynchronizeExponents' or 'ForceExponent',[exp] ).

For even more information take a look at the help block inside num2eng.m.