How can I import a file that contains text and numerical values?

Hi Everyone,

I need your help. I'm writing a program that must pull data from a very large file that is formatted like this:

• 1 1 10230435 3 red no no 1 5 yes
• 3 4 23423423 4 blue no yes 2 3 no
• 4 2 23433554 5 red no no 4 2 yes
• 2 5 23434234 7 green no yes 4 5 no

This is just a sample. The real data actually has 15 columns and has thousands of rows. I have tried the following ways to read the data.

if true
  % s = load('Mfile.m')

    % fid = fopen('Mfile.m','r')
    % s = fscanf(fid,'%s')

    % fid = fopen('Mfile.m','r')
    % s = fscanf(fid,'%f')

    % s = xlsread('Mfile.xls')
  end

The load and fscanf commands give me errors. The xlsread assigns all of the text NaN values. I'm running out of ideas, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ryan]

Also I have tried textscan like this,

• fid = fopen('Mfile.m','r')
• a = textscan(fid,'%d %d %d %d %s %s %s %d %d %s')

But I receive a matrix with no values.

Answer 1

[dpb]

Lose the blanks in the format string--that's causing grief in trying to match them in the parsing...

>> fid=fopen('ryan.txt','r');
>> a=textscan(fid,'%d%d%d%d%s%s%s%d%d%s')
a = 
Columns 1 through 7
  [4x1 int32]    [4x1 int32]    [4x1 int32]    [4x1 int32]    {4x1 cell}    {4x1 cell}    {4x1 cell}
Columns 8 through 10
  [4x1 int32]    [4x1 int32]    {4x1 cell}
>> a{1}
ans =
         1
         3
         4
         2
>> frewind(fid)
>> b=textscan(fid,'%d%d%d%d%s%s%s%d%d%s','collectoutput',1)
b = 
  [4x4 int32]    {4x3 cell}    [4x2 int32]    {4x1 cell}
>> b{1}
ans =
         1           1    10230435           3
         3           4    23423423           4
         4           2    23433554           5
         2           5    23434234           7
>> fid=fclose(fid);

BTW, why on earth would you name a text file with an ".m" extension???

[Ryan]

Thanks! And I couldn't tell you honestly. I switched it to .txt

Answer 2

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

fid=fopen('fic.txt')
out=textscan(fid,'%f %f %f %f %s %s %s %f %f %s')
fclose(fid)