How to read a text file where the data are merged to the first headline title

Hi

I am trying to read a text file where where the first data are merged to the headline title, and this title varies between the data. The data start from 1 right after D2O, but title does not always end with D2O.

You can see that the data should be in 4 different columns too

I am looking forward to your help

Thanks in advance :)

[Cris LaPierre]

Can you share a sample or two of your data? You can use the paperclip icon to attach them to your post.

[Jeremy Hughes]

Is that "D","201" - or - "D20","1" ... or something else. There's no easy way to break that up programatically.

There are also two other "1" characters on that first line.

I think this is a difficult file to read generically. You may have to modify the file (and I really hate suggesting anyone modify files) and try some of the standard tools like readtable.

Where does the file come from? If you can fix the source of the file that would be easier maybe?

[Dat Pham]

Hi,

Thank you very much guys! Sorry for late reply as I got a busy weekend.

I have not got readmatrix or readtable function in my matlab yet. I am trying to download them to try

I attach the file here as well

The title ends with D2O (O is letter O, not number 0) and then number 1 appears next to it. Number 1 should be in the next line but unfortunately it appears in the same line as the title :(

Yes I hate to modify the file or import the data manually, thats why I am here asking for your kind help :)

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

Random thought to try. If this is always the format (in particular, the first column is just row number), then try readmatrix or readtable. They will not be able to interpret the very first value, but if that is always 1, you can just add that later.

I made up a dummy data file based on what you showed.

d = readmatrix("ascii-spec.txt")

d = 5×4

NaN -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0002 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0003 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0004 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0005 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010

●

d(1,1) = 1

d = 5×4

0.0001 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0002 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0003 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0004 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010 0.0005 -1.4567 0.5193 0.0010

%% Now with readtable
d2 = readtable("ascii-spec.txt")

d2 = 5x4 table
    Var1     Var2      Var3      Var4 
    ____    ______    ______    ______

    NaN     -14567    5193.1    10.383
      2     -14567    5193.1    10.383
      3     -14567    5193.1    10.383
      4     -14567    5193.1    10.383
      5     -14567    5193.1    10.383

d2.Var1(1) = 1

d2 = 5x4 table
    Var1     Var2      Var3      Var4 
    ____    ______    ______    ______

     1      -14567    5193.1    10.383
     2      -14567    5193.1    10.383
     3      -14567    5193.1    10.383
     4      -14567    5193.1    10.383
     5      -14567    5193.1    10.383