Converting Alternative Scientific Notation to MATLAB

I have a file with these example numbers I have imported as strings. I can't import as numbers because they come up as NaN.

-5.769-2
3.9984-2
4.568450

These are the 3 variations of numbers in the file

I want to convert these imported strings to MATLAB double, but I get NaN for the first 2 variations.

str2double('-5.769-2') = NaN
str2double('3.9984-2') = NaN
str2double('4.568450') = 4.568450

I want to get the following

-5.769-2 = -5.769e-2
3.9984-2 = 3.9984e-2

Thanks for your assistance.

[James Tursa]

Is there always a space separating the numbers that are on the same line? Can you be more specific about how these numbers appear on the lines in the file? Free format? Fixed columns? Same number of values per line? Etc.

[Stephen Biel]

All strings are 8 characters. Each string is independent. I also found 2 more variations, '5.5559+2' and '-8.734+2'. I'm hoping there is an elegant method to converting these string values to scientific notation., otherwise I will have to pursue a brute force iterative search and replace method. Thx.

[James Tursa]

You haven't answered my question about spacing. Are the numbers right next to each other, each in 8 columns exactly? Or ...? Can you post a sample of the lines? This would affect how people would answer your question.

[Stephen Biel]

Here is an example. The number data at the right of the row is 3 coordinate points that are 8 characters long. Thx.

GRID       15123        .272603922.913396.501789                        
GRID       15124        .334725822.913396.358268                        
GRID       15125        .281283322.913396.223329                        
GRID       15126        .148712722.913396.161716                        
GRID       15127        1.1008-222.913396.207708                        
GRID       15128        4.66672 22.9133910.39098                        
GRID       15129        4.71135 22.9133910.5398                         
GRID       15130        4.85003822.9133910.60985                        
GRID       15131        4.99701322.9133910.55691

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

format long
S = {
    '-5.769-2'
    '3.9984-2'
    '4.568450'
    };

str2double(regexprep(S, '([-+]\d+)$', 'e$1'))

ans = 3×1

-0.057690000000000 0.039984000000000 4.568450000000000

●

[Stephen Biel]

Dear Sir,

You are a genius! Very elegant! Thx.