Read Tabular Data from Text Files

Import Text Files

Text files often contain a mix of numeric and text data as well as variable and row names, which is best represented in MATLAB^® as a table.

Read Text File Data Using Import Tool

Preview tabular data from a text file or the clipboard and select data to import using the Import tool.

Import Mixed Data from Text File into Table

The best way to represent tabular data from text files in MATLAB is in a table since tables can store heterogeneous (a mix of numeric and text) data, as well as variable and row names.

Import Block of Mixed Data from Text File into Table or Cell Array

Import block formatted tabular data from a text file into a table or a cell array.

Import Numeric Data from Text Files into Matrix

In addition to importing numeric tabular data from a text file as a table using readtable, you can also import this data as a matrix into the MATLAB workspace.

Import Block of Numeric Data from Text File

Read arbitrary block-formatted numeric data from a text file into cell arrays.

Read and Analyze Large Tabular Text File

This example shows how to create a datastore for a large text file containing tabular data, and then read and process the data one block at a time or one file at a time.

Import Dates and Times from Text Files

Import formatted dates and times (such as '01/01/01' or '12:30:45') from column oriented tabular data.

Read Collection or Sequence of Text Files

Read and manage data from a collection of text files.

Define Import Options for Tables

If you want to control the import process beyond the options provided by the readtable function, such as defining how to handle missing data or errors, then create an import options object before importing the data.

Write Tabular Data to Text Files

Write Data to Text Files

Export tabular data contained in tables, cell arrays, or numeric arrays from the MATLAB workspace to text files.