How can i read in a .txt file without the first column gets saved?

Hallo,

I want to read text files. In the first row are the elements, in the following rows the measurement results. The first column contains the time. This column is not needed and should therefore not be read or saved. My script works except it only reads every second column. So instead of skipping the first column, it deletes every second. Can someone help me find the mistake?

Thank you for your help

%The first row with elements should be read in
clear intens_cim 
anzahl_elemente=0; 
while 1 anzahl_elemente=anzahl_elemente+1;
scrollword(fid_in,1); %Scrollword function should delete the first word
temp_string=fscanf(fid_in,'%s',[1,1]); element_cim(anzahl_elemente,1:length(temp_string))=temp_string; 
if strcmp ('[103Rh]+',temp_string) %Rh for intern calibration
    rh_elem_neutral=anzahl_elemente; 
end
if strcmp ('UO+',temp_string), break, end %UO+ is the last element in the row
end
[temp_string,neutral]=strtok(cellstr(element_cim),'()') 
spalte_neutral=min(find(strcmp(neutral,'UO+'))) 


 
%Read the intensities
zeilen_nr=0; 
fscanf(fid_in,'%*s',[1,1]); %Not save the first column
while feof(fid_in)==0
    zeilen_nr=zeilen_nr+1;
    for spalten_nr=1:anzahl_elemente 
        intens_cim(zeilen_nr,spalten_nr)=fscanf(fid_in,'%f',[1,1]);
        fscanf(fid_in,'%*s',[1,1]); %Not save the first column
    end
end
[anzahl_runs,anzahl_elemente]=size(intens_cim);
 
 


%Scrollwordfunction:
function scrollword(fid,n); % skips a word of 1 to n
 
for i=1 : n,
   fscanf(fid,'%s',[1,1]);  
end

Answer 1

[Rik]

I prefer not to mix tasks. I first read my file, then I do the processing. It is generally a lot easier to remove parts of char arrays than to mess with fscanf to move the file pointer.

You can get my readfile function from the FEX. If you are using R2017a or later, you can also get it through the AddOn-manager. That will allow you to read a file to a cellstr, which you can then process with a simple loop. On R2020b or newer you can also use readlines instead.

The advantage of this setup is that every block of code has a clear purpose. Your current code has two jobs: reading the file, and while reading it, it should also be aware of the contents of the file and deal with that. Such a setup makes code confusing and difficult to debug and maintain.