[Tex/LaTex] PGF Math Error: Could not parse input as a floating point number

Question

I am trying to print a table from .dat file. In the file there are some columns that are not numbers but words and I think this is the reason why I have this error. How can I fix it?

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,12pt]{book}

\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{selinput}
\usepackage{chemfig}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes,backgrounds}
\usepackage{verbatim}
\usepackage{a4}
\usepackage{tkz-kiviat,numprint}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable, pgfplots, filecontents}
\usepackage{eurosym}
\usepackage{caption,setspace}
\usepackage{quoting}
\usepackage[version=3]{mhchem}
\usepackage{booktabs, array}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{arrayjobx}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{mwe}
\usepackage{subfig}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{xstring}
\usepackage{threeparttable}
\usepackage{xifthen}
\raggedbottom

\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
\quotingsetup{font=small}
\captionsetup{font={small,stretch=1}}


\begin{document}

    \begin{filecontents}{Work.dat}
    Sample Fe Mn B Cu Mo Co Ni Zn Ca Mg Na K P S Al Ti Cr Cd Pb As Se
    F-C-Pr 31 19 15 11 <1 <0.9 <1 14 5500 1590 400 9100 1190 590 22 0.66 0.46 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
    F-Pa-Pr 26 16 17 36 <1 <0.9 <1 40 7600 1690 970 8000 940 620 20 0.84 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
    F-W-Pr 22 25 16 11 <1 <1 <1 53 7800 1640 310 5800 1480 620 9.8 0.42 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    F-C-S 33 28 30 21 1.6 <1 <1 27 3400 3300 3300 23000 790 710 22 0.62 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    F-M-S 69 6.8 50 12 <1 <0.9 3.2 25 5200 1480 3400 25000 1280 510 28 0.81 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
    F-Pa-S 20 21 29 19 <1 <1 <1 14 5400 1740 9600 19300 540 800 6.6 0.61 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    F-W-S 25 23 35 12 <1 <0.9 <1 11 3800 1260 500 24000 1660 520 13 3.1 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
    4-Pa-Pr 89 47 43 74 1.2 <1 3.1 89 19800 4400 2600 18900 2800 480 50 1.8 5.3 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    5-Pa-Pr 98 38 36 77 <1 <0.9 6 121 18300 4300 2100 18300 3200 620 31 1.3 11 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    6-Pa-Pr 177 49 45 93 1 <0.9 14 123 21000 4900 2100 21000 3500 780 38 2.2 27 <0.2 <2 <4 <7
    6-C-Pr 83 57 42 59 <1 <1 2.6 54 18700 5500 3100 26000 4200 670 51 1.9 2.8 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    6-M-Pr 196 121 48 43 1.5 <1 12 210 32000 5200 2400 13300 3900 1240 63 2.2 20 <0.3 5.6 <4 <8
    6-W-Pr 108 91 52 38 <1 <1 4 172 26000 5600 2600 19800 4800 760 33 1.3 7 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    7-Pa-Pr 149 56 60 133 <0.9 <0.9 7 124 26000 6000 2900 26000 3700 1220 58 3.7 13 <0.2 4.5 <3 <7
    4-Pa-S 79 46 58 50 <1 <0.9 1.7 34 12400 3000 14500 42000 1410 710 31 1.4 2.4 <0.2 <2 <4 <7
    5-Pa-S 96 57 69 65 <1 <1 2.5 47 14700 3800 17200 48000 1670 980 50 2.5 4.1 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    6-Pa-S 81 54 72 59 <1 <0.9 7.4 42 15100 3800 18200 51000 1670 1060 38 3.4 1.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
    6-C-S 168 79 77 67 1.4 <1 4 79 11000 8500 7500 59000 2400 1270 122 4.2 5.2 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    6-M-S 190 17 124 34 <1 <0.9 9.2 53 13000 3600 7600 60000 3100 810 89 6.7 5.2 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    6-W-S 200 73 98 59 <1 <0.9 6 49 9000 3800 3800 75000 4200 1020 45 1.9 15 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    7-Pa-S 141 68 81 65 <1 <1 2.9 46 16600 4600 19500 58000 1880 1330 45 3.9 4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
    \end{filecontents}

    \pgfplotstabletypeset[
    col sep = space,
    string replace*={_}{\textsubscript},
    every head row/.style={before row=\toprule,after row=\midrule},
    every last row/.style={after row=\bottomrule},
    display columns/0/.style={string type,column name={}}
    display columns/5/.style={string type}
    display columns/6/.style={string type}
    display columns/7/.style={string type}
    display columns/18/.style={string type}
    display columns/19/.style={string type}
    display columns/20/.style={string type}
    display columns/21/.style={string type}
    ]
    {Workbook1.dat}

\end{document}

Answer 1

You're missing some commas between the display columns, and you have some < in the fifth to last column as well. The table is far to large to fit in a page though. I reduced the font size and \tabcolsep a little, now it fits in a landscape page.

I also changed the columns with < to math mode, which required a workaround (inspired by How to rotate head row cell entries of pgfplotstable) to get the header cells not in math mode.

If the table appears too cramped, you can reduce the font size and increase the \tabcolsep.

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,12pt]{book}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable,pgfplots,booktabs,filecontents,pdflscape}
\newcolumntype{M}{>{$}c<{$}}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}

\begin{filecontents}{Work.dat}
Sample Fe Mn B Cu Mo Co Ni Zn Ca Mg Na K P S Al Ti Cr Cd Pb As Se
F-C-Pr 31 19 15 11 <1 <0.9 <1 14 5500 1590 400 9100 1190 590 22 0.66 0.46 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
F-Pa-Pr 26 16 17 36 <1 <0.9 <1 40 7600 1690 970 8000 940 620 20 0.84 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
F-W-Pr 22 25 16 11 <1 <1 <1 53 7800 1640 310 5800 1480 620 9.8 0.42 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
F-C-S 33 28 30 21 1.6 <1 <1 27 3400 3300 3300 23000 790 710 22 0.62 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
F-M-S 69 6.8 50 12 <1 <0.9 3.2 25 5200 1480 3400 25000 1280 510 28 0.81 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
F-Pa-S 20 21 29 19 <1 <1 <1 14 5400 1740 9600 19300 540 800 6.6 0.61 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
F-W-S 25 23 35 12 <1 <0.9 <1 11 3800 1260 500 24000 1660 520 13 3.1 <0.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
4-Pa-Pr 89 47 43 74 1.2 <1 3.1 89 19800 4400 2600 18900 2800 480 50 1.8 5.3 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
5-Pa-Pr 98 38 36 77 <1 <0.9 6 121 18300 4300 2100 18300 3200 620 31 1.3 11 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
6-Pa-Pr 177 49 45 93 1 <0.9 14 123 21000 4900 2100 21000 3500 780 38 2.2 27 <0.2 <2 <4 <7
6-C-Pr 83 57 42 59 <1 <1 2.6 54 18700 5500 3100 26000 4200 670 51 1.9 2.8 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
6-M-Pr 196 121 48 43 1.5 <1 12 210 32000 5200 2400 13300 3900 1240 63 2.2 20 <0.3 5.6 <4 <8
6-W-Pr 108 91 52 38 <1 <1 4 172 26000 5600 2600 19800 4800 760 33 1.3 7 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
7-Pa-Pr 149 56 60 133 <0.9 <0.9 7 124 26000 6000 2900 26000 3700 1220 58 3.7 13 <0.2 4.5 <3 <7
4-Pa-S 79 46 58 50 <1 <0.9 1.7 34 12400 3000 14500 42000 1410 710 31 1.4 2.4 <0.2 <2 <4 <7
5-Pa-S 96 57 69 65 <1 <1 2.5 47 14700 3800 17200 48000 1670 980 50 2.5 4.1 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
6-Pa-S 81 54 72 59 <1 <0.9 7.4 42 15100 3800 18200 51000 1670 1060 38 3.4 1.4 <0.3 <3 <4 <7
6-C-S 168 79 77 67 1.4 <1 4 79 11000 8500 7500 59000 2400 1270 122 4.2 5.2 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
6-M-S 190 17 124 34 <1 <0.9 9.2 53 13000 3600 7600 60000 3100 810 89 6.7 5.2 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
6-W-S 200 73 98 59 <1 <0.9 6 49 9000 3800 3800 75000 4200 1020 45 1.9 15 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
7-Pa-S 141 68 81 65 <1 <1 2.9 46 16600 4600 19500 58000 1880 1330 45 3.9 4 <0.3 <3 <4 <8
\end{filecontents}
\begin{landscape}
\centering\small
\setlength\tabcolsep{2.2pt}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
col sep = space,
every head row/.style={%
  before row=\toprule,
  after row=\midrule,
  typeset cell/.code={
            \ifnum\pgfplotstablecol=\pgfplotstablecols
            \pgfkeyssetvalue{/pgfplots/table/@cell content}{\multicolumn{1}{c}{##1}\\}%
            \else
            \pgfkeyssetvalue{/pgfplots/table/@cell content}{\multicolumn{1}{c}{##1}&}%
            \fi
            }
},
every last row/.style={after row=\bottomrule},
display columns/0/.style={string type,column type={l}},
display columns/5/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/6/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/7/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/17/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/18/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/19/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/20/.style={string type,column type={M}},
display columns/21/.style={string type,column type={M}}]
{Work.dat}
\end{landscape}
\end{document}