It depends. If the contents in the text file have a consistent format, many times using d=importdata('DataFile.txt') is sufficient to put the numerical data and text data aside. You can even use d=uiimport to go through it once manually and have the option to generate the code for it so you can apply it to other similar files.
If the format is not consistent, using textscan(fid,'%f') can skip the text strings.
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