Why does FREAD read my data incorrectly when using the 'char' format specification with MATLAB 7.3 (R2006b) on Linux?

When I use the following command on Windows with MATLAB 7.3 (R2006b):

a=fread(fopen('test'),64,'char')';

size(a)

I obtain

 ans =

      1    64

On Linux I obtain:

 ans =

      1    62

'schar' and 'uchar' format specification give me the same answer with FREAD on every platforms.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

'char' to FREAD means "read a character in the local codepage". The local codepage is different on Windows and Linux, so that is why there are different results between OSes. To read unsigned bytes and not characters, the correct precision specification is 'uint8' (which is the same as 'uchar').