Data Import and Data Export Operations in MATLAB

Importing data in MATLAB means loading data from an external file. The importdata function
allows loading various data files of different formats. It has the following five forms:

1) A = importdata(filename)
Loads data into array A from the file denoted by filename.

2) A = importdata('-pastespecial')
Loads data from the system clipboard rather than from a file.

3) A = importdata(___, delimiterIn)
Interprets delimiterIn as the column separator in ASCII file, filename, or the clipboard data.
You can use delimiterIn with any of the input arguments in the above syntaxes.

4) A = importdata(___, delimiterIn, headerlinesIn)

Loads data from ASCII file, filename, or the clipboard, reading numeric data starting from
line headerlinesIn+1.

5) [A, delimiterOut, headerlinesOut] = importdata(___)

Returns the detected delimiter character for the input ASCII file in delimiterOut and the
detected number of header lines in headerlinesOut, using any of the input arguments in the
previous syntaxes.

Note: By default, Octave does not have support for importdata() function, so you will have
to search and install this package to make following examples work with your Octave
installation.

Example 1

Let us load and display an image file. Create a script file and type the following code in it –

filename = 'smile.jpg';
A = importdata(filename);
image(A);

When you run the file, MATLAB displays the image file.
Example 2

In this example, we import a text file and specify Delimiter and Column Header. Let us create a
space-delimited ASCII file with column headers, named weeklydata.txt.

Our text file weeklydata.txt looks like this –

SunDay MonDay TuesDay WednesDay ThursDay FriDay SaturDay

95.01 76.21 61.54 40.57 55.79 70.28 81.53
73.11 45.65 79.19 93.55 75.29 69.87 74.68
60.68 41.85 92.18 91.69 81.32 90.38 74.51
48.60 82.14 73.82 41.03 0.99 67.22 93.18
89.13 44.47 57.63 89.36 13.89 19.88 46.60

Create a script file and type the following code in it –

filename = 'weeklydata.txt';
delimiterIn = ' ';
headerlinesIn = 1;
A = importdata(filename,delimiterIn,headerlinesIn);

% View data
for k = [1:7]
disp(A.colheaders{1, k})
disp(A.data(:, k))
disp(' ')
end

When you run the file, it displays the following result –

SunDay
95.0100
73.1100
60.6800
48.6000
89.1300

MonDay
76.2100
45.6500
41.8500
82.1400
44.4700

TuesDay
61.5400
79.1900
92.1800
73.8200
57.6300

WednesDay
40.5700
93.5500
91.6900
41.0300
89.3600

ThursDay
55.7900
75.2900
81.3200
0.9900
13.8900

FriDay
70.2800
69.8700
90.3800
67.2200
19.8800

SaturDay
81.5300
74.6800
74.5100
93.1800
46.6000
Example 3

In this example, let us import data from clipboard.

Copy the following lines to the clipboard −

Mathematics is simple

Create a script file and type the following code –

A = importdata('-pastespecial')

When you run the file, it displays the following result –

A =
'Mathematics is simple'

Low-Level File I/O

The importdata function is a high-level function. The low-level file I/O functions in MATLAB
allow the most control over reading or writing data to a file. However, these functions need more
detailed information about your file to work efficiently.

MATLAB provides the following functions for read and write operations at the byte or character
level –
 Function Description

fclose Close one or all open files

feof Test for end-of-file
ferror Information about file I/O errors
fgetl Read line from file, removing newline characters
fgets Read line from file, keeping newline characters
fopen Open file, or obtain information about open files
fprintf Write data to text file
fread Read data from binary file
Move file position indicator to beginning of open
frewind
file
fscanf Read data from text file
fseek Move to specified position in file
ftell Position in open file
fwrite Write data to binary file

Import Text Data Files with Low-Level I/O

MATLAB provides the following functions for low-level import of text data files −

 The fscanf function reads formatted data in a text or ASCII file.

 The fgetl and fgets functions read one line of a file at a time, where a newline character
separates each line.
 The fread function reads a stream of data at the byte or bit level.

Example 4

We have a text data file 'myfile.txt' saved in our working directory. The file stores rainfall data for
three months; June, July and August for the year 2012.

The data in myfile.txt contains repeated sets of time, month and rainfall measurements at five
places. The header data stores the number of months M; so we have M sets of measurements.

The file looks like this −

 Rainfall Data
Months: June, July, August

M = 3
12:00:00
June-2012
17.21 28.52 39.78 16.55 23.67
19.15 0.35 17.57 NaN 12.01
17.92 28.49 17.40 17.06 11.09
9.59 9.33 NaN 0.31 0.23
10.46 13.17 NaN 14.89 19.33
20.97 19.50 17.65 14.45 14.00
18.23 10.34 17.95 16.46 19.34
09:10:02
July-2012
12.76 16.94 14.38 11.86 16.89
20.46 23.17 NaN 24.89 19.33
30.97 49.50 47.65 24.45 34.00
18.23 30.34 27.95 16.46 19.34
30.46 33.17 NaN 34.89 29.33
30.97 49.50 47.65 24.45 34.00
28.67 30.34 27.95 36.46 29.34
15:03:40
August-2012
17.09 16.55 19.59 17.25 19.22
17.54 11.45 13.48 22.55 24.01
NaN 21.19 25.85 25.05 27.21
26.79 24.98 12.23 16.99 18.67
17.54 11.45 13.48 22.55 24.01
NaN 21.19 25.85 25.05 27.21
26.79 24.98 12.23 16.99 18.67

We will import data from this file and display this data. Take the following steps −

 Open the file with fopen function and get the file identifier.
 Describe the data in the file with format specifiers, such as '%s' for a string, '%d' for an
integer, or '%f' for a floating-point number.
 To skip literal characters in the file, include them in the format description. To skip a data
field, use an asterisk ('*') in the specifier.
 By default, fscanf reads data according to our format description until it does not find any
match for the data, or it reaches the end of the file. Here we will use for loop for reading 3
sets of data and each time, it will read 7 rows and 5 columns.
 We will create a structure named mydata in the workspace to store data read from the file.
This structure has three fields - time, month, and raindata array.

For example, to read the headers and return the single value for M, we write −

M = fscanf(fid, '%*s %*s\n%*s %*s %*s %*s\nM=%d\n\n', 1);

Create a script file and type the following code in it –

filename = '/data/myfile.txt';
rows = 7;
cols = 5;

% open the file

fid = fopen(filename);

% read the file headers, find M (number of months)

M = fscanf(fid, '%*s %*s\n%*s %*s %*s %*s\nM=%d\n\n', 1);

% read each set of measurements

for n = 1:M
mydata(n).time = fscanf(fid, '%s', 1);
mydata(n).month = fscanf(fid, '%s', 1);

% fscanf fills the array in column order,

% so transpose the results
mydata(n).raindata = ...
fscanf(fid, '%f', [rows, cols]);
end
for n = 1:M
disp(mydata(n).time), disp(mydata(n).month)
disp(mydata(n).raindata)
end

% close the file

fclose(fid);

When you run the file, it displays the following result –

 12:00:00
June-2012
17.2100 17.5700 11.0900 13.1700 14.4500
28.5200 NaN 9.5900 NaN 14.0000
39.7800 12.0100 9.3300 14.8900 18.2300
16.5500 17.9200 NaN 19.3300 10.3400
23.6700 28.4900 0.3100 20.9700 17.9500
19.1500 17.4000 0.2300 19.5000 16.4600
0.3500 17.0600 10.4600 17.6500 19.3400

09:10:02
July-2012
12.7600 NaN 34.0000 33.1700 24.4500
16.9400 24.8900 18.2300 NaN 34.0000
14.3800 19.3300 30.3400 34.8900 28.6700
11.8600 30.9700 27.9500 29.3300 30.3400
16.8900 49.5000 16.4600 30.9700 27.9500
20.4600 47.6500 19.3400 49.5000 36.4600
23.1700 24.4500 30.4600 47.6500 29.3400

15:03:40
August-2012
17.0900 13.4800 27.2100 11.4500 25.0500
16.5500 22.5500 26.7900 13.4800 27.2100
19.5900 24.0100 24.9800 22.5500 26.7900
17.2500 NaN 12.2300 24.0100 24.9800
19.2200 21.1900 16.9900 NaN 12.2300
17.5400 25.8500 18.6700 21.1900 16.9900
11.4500 25.0500 17.5400 25.8500 18.6700

Data export (or output) in MATLAB means to write into files. MATLAB allows you to use your
data in another application that reads ASCII files. For this, MATLAB provides several data export
options.

You can create the following type of files −

 Rectangular, delimited ASCII data file from an array.

 Diary (or log) file of keystrokes and the resulting text output.
 Specialized ASCII file using low-level functions such as fprintf.
 MEX-file to access your C/C++ or Fortran routine that writes to a particular text file format.

Apart from this, you can also export data to spreadsheets.

There are two ways to export a numeric array as a delimited ASCII data file −

 Using the save function and specifying the -ascii qualifier

 Using the dlmwrite function

Syntax for using the save function is −

 save my_data.out num_array -ascii

where, my_data.out is the delimited ASCII data file created, num_array is a numeric array and
−ascii is the specifier.

Syntax for using the dlmwrite function is –

dlmwrite('my_data.out', num_array, 'dlm_char')

where, my_data.out is the delimited ASCII data file created, num_array is a numeric array and
dlm_char is the delimiter character.

Example 5

The following example demonstrates the concept. Create a script file and type the following code-

num_array = [ 1 2 3 4 ; 4 5 6 7; 7 8 9 0];
save array_data1.out num_array -ascii;
type array_data1.out
dlmwrite('array_data2.out', num_array, ' ');
type array_data2.out

When you run the file, it displays the following result –

1.0000000e+00 2.0000000e+00 3.0000000e+00 4.0000000e+00

4.0000000e+00 5.0000000e+00 6.0000000e+00 7.0000000e+00
7.0000000e+00 8.0000000e+00 9.0000000e+00 0.0000000e+00

1 2 3 4
4 5 6 7
7 8 9 0

Please note that the save -ascii command and the dlmwrite function does not work with cell arrays
as input. To create a delimited ASCII file from the contents of a cell array, you can

 Either, convert the cell array to a matrix using the cell2mat function
 Or export the cell array using low-level file I/O functions.
If you use the save function to write a character array to an ASCII file, it writes the ASCII
equivalent of the characters to the file.

For example, let us write the word 'hello' to a file –

h = 'hello';
save textdata.out h -ascii
type textdata.out

MATLAB executes the above statements and displays the following result. which is the characters
of the string 'hello' in 8-digit ASCII format.

1.0400000e+02 1.0100000e+02 1.0800000e+02 1.0800000e+02 1.1100000e+02

Writing to Diary Files

Diary files are activity logs of your MATLAB session. The diary function creates an exact copy
of your session in a disk file, excluding graphics.

To turn on the diary function, type −

diary

Optionally, you can give the name of the log file, say –

diary logdata.out

To turn off the diary function −

diary off

You can open the diary file in a text editor.

Exporting Data to Text Data Files with Low-Level I/O

So far, we have exported numeric arrays. However, you may need to create other text files,
including combinations of numeric and character data, nonrectangular output files, or files with
non-ASCII encoding schemes. For these purposes, MATLAB provides the low-level fprintf
function.
As in low-level I/O file activities, before exporting, you need to open or create a file with the fopen
function and get the file identifier. By default, fopen opens a file for read-only access. You should
specify the permission to write or append, such as 'w' or 'a'.

After processing the file, you need to close it with fclose(fid) function.

The following example demonstrates the concept −

Example 6

Create a script file and type the following code in it –

% create a matrix y, with two rows

x = 0:10:100;
y = [x; log(x)];

% open a file for writing

fid = fopen('logtable.txt', 'w');

% Table Header
fprintf(fid, 'Log Function\n\n');

% print values in column order

% two values appear on each row of the file
fprintf(fid, '%f %f\n', y);
fclose(fid);

% display the file created

type logtable.txt

When you run the file, it displays the following result –

Log Function

0.000000 -Inf
10.000000 2.302585
20.000000 2.995732
30.000000 3.401197
40.000000 3.688879
50.000000 3.912023
60.000000 4.094345
70.000000 4.248495
80.000000 4.382027
90.000000 4.499810
100.000000 4.605170