Importing Numeric Data with Text Headers :: Data Import and Export (Programming)

Programming

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
   66.8000
   77.0000

ans =
   45.9000
   78.0000
   56.7000

fclose(fid);

Importing Delimited ASCII Data Files Importing Mixed Alphabetic and Numeric Data