MATLAB: What format of data files is adequate to reduce the processing time

process timexlsread

I wrote a script that reads data from excel. When I execute this m-file and analyze the profile of result. It takes most of the processing time in the function 'xlsread'. Should I change the format of files? or 'actxserver' is unrelated with xlsread?

Best Answer

The ActiveX framework allows applications to access and control Microsoft applications. Basically if you want to use Excel files, then the ActiveX framework is/was the usual way to access them, and the actxserver is the process that achieves this (on Windows OS, anyway).
If speed is your main concern then avoid using proprietary Excel files, and use simple text files or mat files:
http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/data-import-and-export.html
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