How to import data with column headings?

Hello all, attached is a sample of my data. I would like to import the data as a matrix, when I do so, I lose column headings. Importing data as a table will work (see attached), however, I don't want my data to be in table form. I want my data in a matrix with top row as column headings as it is in csv sheet. Any thought would be appreciated. I tried to convert the table into array (table2array) but I lose column heading again.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

This works for me:

[~, ~, data] = xlsread('data.csv')

What happened when you tried it?

[Hydro]

Hello @Image Analyst.

your code gives me cell, which i dont want. i used cell2mat but didnt work as the data type is not same.

[Image Analyst]

Like Walter says in his answer, that's not possible. You can either do a cell array, like I showed you, or use a table, like you've already done. I suggest you use a table. Tables are great and you'd do yourself a favor to get used to them.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

In MATLAB, it is not possible to have a header on a numeric matrix. If you want to preserve the headers, you have two options:

1. import as a cell array with each entry being in a different cell; or
2. import as a table and use the table VariableDescriptions property to store the headers (note: the variable descriptions only show up if you use summary() or ask for them specifically.)

[Hydro]

Hello Walter/Image Analyst, I agree. Actually, I am trying to construct a timetable, which I would use for further analysis. I don't use table often-so I am bit uncomfortable. I construct the timetable but importing data as vector and then adding vector one by one while constructing the time table. Since I have more column, thought there would be an easy way of doing this.

Walter! Part of the code is yours.

StartDate = datetime(2011,01,01);
EndDate = datetime(2011,12,31);
Date = (StartDate:calmonths(1):EndDate)';
Date.Format = 'MMM-yyyy';

TT=timetable(Date,RCP45_2030s_W0_Removed,RCP45_2030s_W25_Removed,RCP45_2030s_W50_Removed,RCP45_2030s_W75_Removed,RCP45_2030s_W100_Removed);