MATLAB: Problem in importing data through textscan

mixnumberproblemstringtextscan

Hello everybody,
In fact, I have a text file with dat extension in which the data format is as follows:
Date     Time    CO
2009-02-25  18:39:01   165.3
I used the following code to import the data:
fid = fopen('CO_2009_m.dat','r');
data_f2 = textscan(fid,'%s %s %f', 'delimiter', ' ', 'collectoutput',1,'headerlines',1);
fclose(fid)
and I found where my CO concentration is two digits before decimal, for instance, 70.1, the output is as follows:
357.9
357.2
NaN
NaN
359.4
and even sometimes the data is mixed with the string as follows:
'2009-01-02'  '19:30:00'
'4.6'  ''
2009-01-02'  '19:40:00'
'2009-01-02'  '19:50:00'
'0.5'  ''
Does any body have any idea how can I get rid of this situation importing the string and the data separately?
kind regards,
Rahman

Best Answer

Try this
    fid = fopen('cssm.txt', 'r' );
    data_f2 = textscan( fid,'%s%s%f'                        ...
                    ,   'delimiter'             ,   ' '     ...
                    ,   'headerlines'           ,   1       ...
                    ,   'MultipleDelimsAsOne'   ,   true    ...
                    ,   'CollectOutput'         ,   true    );
    fclose(fid)
.
and this
    fid = fopen('cssm.txt', 'r' );
    data_f2 = textscan( fid,'%s%s%f'                        ...
    ...             ,   'delimiter'             ,   ' '     ...
                    ,   'headerlines'           ,   1       ...
    ...             ,   'MultipleDelimsAsOne'   ,   true    ...
                    ,   'CollectOutput'         ,   true    ...
                    );
    fclose(fid)
.
Tested with R2012a, 64bit, Windows7.
Default for Delimiter is "white-space", which includes space, tab, etc.
Doc says: "... If you do not specify a delimiter, textscan interprets repeated white-space characters as a single delimiter."
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