Matlab read text file to cell array

Question

I want to read some data from a text file but I don't know how to do this. I know that I can read text files like this

fid=fopen('data.txt');
A = textscan(fid,'%s')

which returns

A =
{
  [1,1] =
  {
    [1,1] = drink
    [2,1] = water
    [3,1] = drink
    [4,1] = eat
    [5,1] = drink
    [6,1] = spoon
    [7,1] = water
    [8,1] = drink
    [9,1] = water
    [10,1] = drink
  }
}

the text file looks like this

drink water drink
eat drink spoon
water drink water drink

But I want to store the data in a cell array like this

A =
{
  [1,1] =
  {
    [1,1] = drink
    [1,2] = water
    [1,3] = drink
  }
  [1,2] =
  {
    [1,1] = eat
    [1,2] = drink
    [1,3] = spoon
  }
  [1,3] =
  {
    [1,1] = water
    [1,2] = drink
    [1,3] = water
    [1,4] = drink
  }
}

How can i solve this?

A[1,1] has three drink cells and I am assuming [1,1] corresponds to the first row of the text file that has only two drink — Divakar
– Divakar, Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 21:02
A[1,3] feels neglected too. Reminds me I need some drink too, and by that I mean just water. — Divakar
– Divakar, Commented Oct 29, 2014 at 21:09

Divakar · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-29 21:07:20Z

1

You can use a combination of importdata and regexp with 'Split' option -

out = cellfun(@(x) regexp(x,'\s','Split'),importdata(text_filename,'\n'),'un',0).'

Output -

out{1,1}
ans = 
    'drink'    'water'    'drink'
out{1,2}
ans = 
    'eat'    'drink'    'spoon'
out{1,3}
ans = 
    'water'    'drink'    'water'    'drink'

answered Oct 29, 2014 at 21:07

Divakar

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13 Comments

user2348157 Over a year ago

thanks but this doesn't really work. Im fairly new to matlab. I tried your solution an got an error: 'un' syntax error. Could you please explain me what this 'un' means

Divakar Over a year ago

@user2348157 Try replacing that 'un' with 'UniformOutput' and let me know how it goes? That 'un' is like a short-hand for that.

Divakar Over a year ago

@user2348157 For more info on that, please refer to the official doc page - mathworks.in/help/matlab/ref/cellfun.html

user2348157 Over a year ago

After replacing it i didn't get the error. But I get this now cellfun: C must be a cell array. I am not sure if I understand this right. Instead of using A=textscan... I use the code you posted and I should get the cell array?

Divakar Over a year ago

@user2348157 Did you edit text_filename with the path to the text file? You are supposed to do that. So, it would be - out = cellfun(@(x) regexp(x,'\s','Split'),importdata('data1.txt','\n'),'un',0).', if data1.txt is the name of the text file in the working directory.

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