opt = {'HeaderLines',17,'CollectOutput',true};
fmt = repmat('%f',1,5);
[fid,msg] = fopen('example.txt','rt');
assert(fid>=3,msg)
C = textscan(fid,fmt,opt{:});
fclose(fid);
M = C{1}
Giving:
M =
0 5 5 -5.305e-05 -5.67e-12
1e-07 0 0 -0.001346 -9.39e-09
2e-07 0 0 0.001321 8.899e-09
3e-07 0 0 -0.000177 -1.376e-09
4e-07 0 0 -0.001265 -8.834e-09
5e-07 0 0 -0.000514 -3.687e-09
6e-07 0 0 0.0002366 1.459e-09
7e-07 0 0 0.0009872 6.606e-09
8e-07 0 0 0.0009067 6.053e-09
9e-07 0 0 -0.0002417 -1.822e-09
1e-06 0 0 -0.00139 -9.698e-09
1.1e-06 0 5 0.3 -8.179e-11
1.2e-06 0 5 0.3 3.352e-11
1.3e-06 0 5 0.3 -4.139e-11
1.4e-06 0 5 0.3 -9.998e-11
1.5e-06 0 5 0.3 -6.439e-11
1.6e-06 0 5 0.3 -2.881e-11
1.7e-06 0 5 0.3 6.771e-12
1.8e-06 0 5 0.3 1.787e-11
1.9e-06 0 5 0.3 -4.478e-11
2e-06 0 5 0.3 -1.074e-10
2.1e-06 5 0 0.2999 -3.169e-10
2.2e-06 5 0 0.2999 -5.483e-10
2.3e-06 5 0 0.2999 -5.55e-10
2.4e-06 5 0 0.2999 -4.285e-10
2.5e-06 5 0 0.2999 -3.02e-10
2.6e-06 5 0 0.3 -1.755e-10
2.7e-06 5 0 0.3 -1.304e-10
2.8e-06 5 0 0.3 -2.51e-10
2.9e-06 5 0 0.2999 -3.717e-10
3e-06 5 0 0.2999 -4.923e-10
3.1e-06 5 5 0.008347 -8.29e-12
3.2e-06 5 5 0.005635 -9.013e-12
3.3e-06 5 5 0.003308 2.125e-12
3.4e-06 5 5 0.002145 3.311e-12
3.5e-06 5 5 0.001663 -1.328e-12
3.6e-06 5 5 0.00118 -5.966e-12
3.7e-06 5 5 0.000698 -1.06e-11
3.8e-06 5 5 0.0002156 -1.524e-11
3.9e-06 5 5 -9.295e-05 -7.987e-12
4e-06 5 5 -0.0002999 6.227e-12
4.1e-06 0 0 -0.0005739 -3.378e-09
4.2e-06 0 0 0.000453 2.323e-09
4.3e-06 0 0 -0.001431 -8.135e-09
4.4e-06 0 0 -0.0003192 -1.965e-09
4.5e-06 0 0 0.0007925 4.205e-09
4.6e-06 0 0 0.001314 7.097e-09
4.7e-06 0 0 0.0006017 3.145e-09
4.8e-06 0 0 -0.0001101 -8.069e-10
4.9e-06 0 0 -0.0008218 -4.759e-09
5e-06 0 0 -0.001534 -8.71e-09
>>
If the number of header lines are not fixed and vary between files, then you can use fgets in a while loop until you get to an easily identifiable line, then call textscan afterwards.
