Import Tool
Import data from file
Description
The Import Tool lets you preview and import data from spreadsheet files, delimited text files, and fixed-width text files. You can interactively select the data to import and reuse the script or function that the tool generates to import other similar files.
Open the Import Tool
MATLAB® Toolstrip: On the Home tab, in the Variable section, click Import Data.
MATLAB command prompt: Enter
uiimport(, wherefilename)filenameis a character vector specifying the name of a text or spreadsheet file.
Examples
Select Range to Import
Import ranges of data from a tab-delimited text file and replace nonnumeric values in the file.
Drag the cursor to select the cells to import. Press Ctrl to select noncontiguous ranges.
Modify the Variable Names Row field to indicate the row you want the Import Tool to use for the variable names.
By default, NaN replaces unimportable values in numeric cells.
However, you can change this value to any other numeric value. Specify how to treat
unimportable values on the Import tab, in the
Unimportable Cells section.
Alternatively, exclude any row that contains an unimportable cell from being imported.
Click Import Selection
. The new column vectors appear in your
workspace.
Specify Decimal Separator and Date Format
Import dates and numbers from a text file into a table. Specify the decimal separator for numeric values in the file and a custom format for dates.
In the Imported Data section, select Table
to import the file data into a table variable. In this example, the
third column of data contains monetary amounts where the decimal separator is a comma.
In the Delimiters section, select Delimiter
Options. Then, under Decimal Separator, select
, (comma).
The Import Tool appropriately converts the monetary values.
Specify that a column contains date or time data by changing the data type for the column to DATE/TIME. Click more date formats.... Scroll down the list to enter a custom date format.
Click Import Selection
to import the table.