`textscan`

Reads formatted data from a file or text into a cell array of columns.

Category: Data Import and Analysis > Data Import and Export

Syntax

C = textscan(fid, formatSpec)

Reads from an open file.

C = textscan(str, formatSpec)

Reads from a character vector.

C = textscan(..., Name, Value)

Sets options such as 'Delimiter' and 'HeaderLines'.

Description

The format is applied again and again until the input ends, so each conversion collects one column. %d gives int32 and %f gives double. Join numeric columns of the same class with [C{:}].

Because the result holds columns of different types, textscan suits files that mix text and numbers, where readmatrix cannot.

Input arguments

formatSpec: Conversions such as %f, %d, %s, one per column. Literal text in the format must match the data.
'Delimiter': Field separator or cell array of separators.
'HeaderLines': Number of lines to skip at the start.

Output arguments

C: Cell array with one cell per conversion: numeric column vectors, or cell arrays of character vectors for %s.

Example

Text and numbers

C = textscan('a 1 b 2 c 3', '%s %f');
C{1}'
C{2}'
D = textscan('10:20 30:40', '%d:%d');
[D{:}]
fid = fopen('t.csv', 'w'); fprintf(fid, 'id,val\n1,2.5\n2,3.5\n'); fclose(fid);
fid = fopen('t.csv');
E = textscan(fid, '%d %f', 'Delimiter', ',', 'HeaderLines', 1);
fclose(fid);
E{2}'

Output

ans = 1×3 cell

    {'a'}    {'b'}    {'c'}
ans = 1×3

     1     2     3
ans = 2×2 int32 matrix

   10   20
   30   40
ans = 1×2

    2.5000    3.5000

textscan