How to turn .txt file into a useful table.

This seems like it should be exceedingly simple, but I haven't found anything on here or anywhere else that addresses it. I have a text file delimited by periods that should be very easy to import using the readtable function, but it seems that readtable automatically sets everything to be character arrays. I've tried using format strings, but I get errors. I would include my code but it's simply one line, one fuction: readtable(filepath).

Trying to include a format string gets me:

"Unable to read the entire file. You may need to specify
a different format, delimiter, or number of header
lines.

Note: readtable detected the following parameters:
'HeaderLines', 0, 'ReadVariableNames', true

Error in redditAnalysis (line 4)
allData =
readtable('C:\Users\John\Desktop\ChildrensNeurobio\MATLABproject\redditPractice\all.txt',
'Delimiter', '.', 'Format', '%f%f%f%f%f%s');
"

Any idea how to get the columns I need into a useful numeric vector format?

EDIT: the first few lines of the file... rank.page.upvotes.comments.age.subreddit

1.1.40400.1283.3.OldSchoolCool 
2.1.19200.906.4.funny  
3.1.31800.1709.5.politics  
4.1.40300.780.5.bestof  
5.1.5844.1277.3.soccer  
6.1.30200.256.5.aww

Answer 1

[Sailesh Sidhwani]

To achieve your workflow, along with the file you should all pass "File Import Options" to the readtable() functio. These options define how the file will be read in MATLAB. You can also set the variable names, variable types and delimiter in these import options. To know more about import options, check the documentation link below:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/detectimportoptions.html

See the following steps to achieve your workflow. "abc.txt" is the subset of your file from your question.

opts = detectImportOptions('abc.txt')

opts =

DelimitedTextImportOptions with properties:

   Format Properties:
                    Delimiter: {','}
                   Whitespace: '\b\t '
                   LineEnding: {'\n'  '\r'  '\r\n'}
                 CommentStyle: {}
    ConsecutiveDelimitersRule: 'split'
        LeadingDelimitersRule: 'keep'
                EmptyLineRule: 'skip'
                     Encoding: 'windows-1252'

   Replacement Properties:
                  MissingRule: 'fill'
              ImportErrorRule: 'fill'
             ExtraColumnsRule: 'addvars'

   Variable Import Properties:   Set types by name using setvartype
                VariableNames: {'rank_page_upvotes_comments_age_subreddit'}
                VariableTypes: {'char'}
        SelectedVariableNames: {'rank_page_upvotes_comments_age_subreddit'}
              VariableOptions: Show all 1 VariableOptions 
  Access VariableOptions sub-properties using setvaropts/getvaropts

Now change the delimiter, variableNames and variableTypes as per your requirement.

opts.Delimiter = {'.'};
opts.VariableNames= {'rank','page','upvotes','comments','age','subreddit'}
opts = 

DelimitedTextImportOptions with properties:

   Format Properties:
                    Delimiter: {'.'}
                   Whitespace: '\b\t '
                   LineEnding: {'\n'  '\r'  '\r\n'}
                 CommentStyle: {}
    ConsecutiveDelimitersRule: 'split'
        LeadingDelimitersRule: 'keep'
                EmptyLineRule: 'skip'
                     Encoding: 'windows-1252'

   Replacement Properties:
                  MissingRule: 'fill'
              ImportErrorRule: 'fill'
             ExtraColumnsRule: 'addvars'

   Variable Import Properties:   Set types by name using setvartype
                VariableNames: {'rank', 'page', 'upvotes' ... and 3 more}
                VariableTypes: {'char', 'char', 'char' ... and 3 more}
        SelectedVariableNames: {'rank', 'page', 'upvotes' ... and 3 more}
              VariableOptions: Show all 6 VariableOptions 
  Access VariableOptions sub-properties using setvaropts/getvaropts

Now pass this "opts" as File Import Options to "readtable"

readtable('abc.txt',opts)

ans =

6×6 table

    rank    page    upvotes    comments    age       subreddit   
    ____    ____    _______    ________    ___    _______________

    '1'     '1'     '40400'    '1283'      '3'    'OldSchoolCool'
    '2'     '1'     '19200'    '906'       '4'    'funny'        
    '3'     '1'     '31800'    '1709'      '5'    'politics'     
    '4'     '1'     '40300'    '780'       '5'    'bestof'       
    '5'     '1'     '5844'     '1277'      '3'    'soccer'       
    '6'     '1'     '30200'    '256'       '5'    'aww'

[Jeremy Hughes]

you can also set the types with:

>> opts = setvartype(opts,1:5,'double');

See my full answer for a slightly better approach.

Answer 2

[Jeremy Hughes]

Hi,

This is actually pretty simple:

>> opts = detectImportOptions('abc.txt','Delimiter','.')
>> opts.VariableNames= {'rank','page','upvotes','comments','age','subreddit'}
>> t = readtable('abc.txt',opts);

Without import options, readtable uses a slightly different reading method that scans for numbers and thus pulls the '.' (i.e. decimal point) along for the ride. Without the 'Delimiter' parameter, detectImportOptions will not choose '.' since it assumes the value will appear as a decimal separator.

Hope this helps,

Jeremy

[Jeremy Hughes]

And if the variable names are already there in the file, you might not need that second line.