How to reduce the decimal places if I want to save the mat file from the workspace?

Hi,

I handled my structure data, saved it in workspace and then output as mat file, but I don't want my file to be this large. How to reduce the decimal places if I want to save the mat file from the workspace? At first I used preferences to change variables, but it didn't reduce the storage of the mat file. How can I use any functions in MATLAB without coding?

Thank you so much.

[Rik]

If you want your file to be smaller, you probably need to change the data type. A normal number in Matlab (stored as a double) will require 64 bits to store. If you only deal with integer values that are small enough, you could try int8 or uint8. If you have a wider range of values but still want a size reduction, you could also consider converting your data to single, which only uses 32 bits.

But how were you planning to do anything at all without coding? That sounds the same to me as if you would ask how to use Matlab without mouse and keyboard.

[Jan]

What does this mean: "I used preferences to change variables"?

[Stephen23]

@Rik: it sounds like you found the solution too: "use Matlab without mouse and keyboard" definitely means no coding !

[Rik]

Although with a touchscreen and the apps in the lint you can probably get quite some distance with a finger. Also no coding.

Answer 1

[Jan]

There are two options:

1. Use a MAT format with compression: -v7.3 . See: doc save
2. Convert doubles to singles or (U)INT32/16/8 arrays, if the loss of precision is no problem. CHAR arrays need 2 bytes per element also, so UINT8 might save some space.

There is no magic "make the output files smaller" flag.