MATLAB: Sscanf not working for text on multiple lines.

MATLABsscanftext file

I'm trying to read text from a file and put it into various collums. It works when I use the following txt and script:
My txt file looks like:
{co-ordinates 1.5 2.5 4.8   weighting 11.713}{co-ordinates 2.5 2.8 1.7   weighting 21.4}{co-ordinates 1.5 2.5 4.8   weighting 11.7}
My code looks like:
fopen practice2.txt
str = fileread('practice2.txt')
mat = sscanf(str,'{co-ordinates%f%f%f weighting%f}',[4,Inf]).'
mat =
    1.5000    2.5000    4.8000   11.7130   
    2.5000    2.8000    1.7000   21.4000  
    1.5000    2.5000    4.8000   11.7000
Now im trying to use a different txt file that looks like this:
    
{
co-ordinates 102.10 93.30 128.50
  weighting 1.000000}
{
co-ordinates 99.60 98.50 124.00
  weighting 0.622901
}
and now all of a sudden the code doesn't work at all!? Any idea why it's no longer working and how to fix it? Thanks!

Best Answer

"now all of a sudden the code doesn't work at all!"
Well, yes that would be because the text portion in your sample file is not 'co-ordinates' and 'weighting' but 'position' and 'weight', so of course when sscanf looks for 'co-ordinates' it can't fail it and aborts. You could change your sscanf format to reflect the actual text of the file:
mat = sscanf(str,' { position%f%f%f weight%f}'), [4, Inf]).'
or just tell sscanf to ignore the text whatever it is, so it works in both cases:
mat = sscanf(str, ' {%*s%f%f%f%*s%f}', [4, Inf]).'
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