how to change a .txt file to a .mat file

Hello, I have a .txt file that I want to convert into a .mat file.

I tried this code

M = dlmread('test_background_id.txt'); %Use a better name that M
save('somefile.mat', 'M');

However I get an error

% Error using dlmread (line 147)
% Mismatch between file and format character vector.
% Trouble reading 'Numeric' field from file (row number 1, field number 1) ==> Serial:
% 00002405\n
 

Anyone knows why this is the case?

Thanks

[Bhaskar R]

dlmread is expecting format specifier. Can you share some your text file?

[Lucrezia Cester]

Here is the file

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

"Anyone knows why this is the case?"

dlmread only imports purely numeric data, which your file is not.

You will have to parse the file using some other tools, e.g. using fileread and a regular expression (you could probably coerce textscan and/or readtable to do much the same thing):

>> str = fileread('test_background_id.txt');
>> C = regexpi(str,'^([A-Z]+):\s*(.+?)\s*$','tokens','lineanchors');
>> C = vertcat(C{:})
    'Serial'                    '00002405'                                
    'Commit'                    'be6aa3b35e7caab3db1a87f95510bd40c86a7431'
    'CCamDeviceVersion'         '1.3.0-1920618'                           
    'SystemVersion'             '3.0.0'                                   
    'SystemBuildDate'           'Mon Oct 08 17:12:03 2018'                
    'SystemVersionControlID'    '7e8c3be8'                                
    'SystemId'                  '15'

which you can easily convert to a convenient structure:

>> S = cell2struct(C(:,2),C(:,1),1);
>> S.Serial
ans =
00002405
>> S.SystemVersion
ans =
3.0.0

After that it is trivial to save it as a .mat file:

>> save('somefile.mat','-struct','S')

TIP: always load into an output variable:

S = load(...)

[Lucrezia Cester]

I was expecting a cell with 4 vectors in it from my file but I get something weird with your code.

[Lucrezia Cester]

The problem is that I don't get any somefile.mat from this

[Stephen23]

"The problem is that I don't get any somefile.mat from this"

Did you try this part of my answer?:

>> save('somefile.mat','-struct','S')

I tested it before posting here, and it definitely creates a .mat file with all of that structure data in it. The file is attached, in case you want to look at it yourself.

[Lucrezia Cester]

yes I did use the save line but no .mat file appears

[Lucrezia Cester]

where did you attach the .mat file?

[Stephen23]

"yes I did use the save line but no .mat file appears "

Did you check in the current directory?

"where did you attach the .mat file?"

To my previous comment. You can download it by clicking the link at the top of the comment. Here is a screenshot showing you where the link is: