MATLAB Programming

6 Data Import and Export
A = dlmread('ph.dat', ';');
You specify the delimiter used in the data file as the second argument to
dlmread. Note that, even though the last items in each row are not followed
by a delimiter, dlmread can still process the file correctly. dlmread ignores
space characters between data elements. So, the preceding dlmread command
works even if the contents of ph.dat are
7.2; 8.5; 6.2;6.6
5.4; 9.2 ;8.1;7.2
Importing Numeric Data with Text Headers
To import an ASCII data file that contains text headers, use the textscan
function, specifying the headerlines parameter. textscan accepts a set of
predefined parameters that control various aspects of the conversion. (For a
complete list of these parameters, see the textscan reference page.) Using
the headerlines parameter, you can specify the number of lines at the head
of the file that textscan should ignore.
For example, the file grades.dat contains formatted numeric data with a
one-line text header:
Grade1 Grade2 Grade3
78.8 55.9 45.9
99.5 66.8 78.0
89.5 77.0 56.7
To import this data, first open the file and then use this textscan command
to read the contents:
fid = fopen('grades.dat', 'r');
grades = textscan(fid, '%f %f %f', 3, 'headerlines', 1);
grades{:}
ans =
78.8000
99.5000
89.5000
ans =
55.9000
6-80