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LoadingDataintoMATLABforPlotting
Inadditiontoplottingvaluescreatedwithitsowncommands,MATLABisveryusefulforplotting
datafromothersources,e.g.,experimentalmeasurements.Typicallythisdataisavailableasaplain
textfileorganizedintocolumns.MATLABcaneasilyhandletaborspacedelimitedtext,butitcannot
directlyimportfilesstoredinthenative(binary)formatofotherapplicationssuchasspreadsheets.
ThesimplestwaytoimportyourdataintoMATLABiswiththeloadcommand.Unfortunately,the
loadcommandrequiresthatyourdatafilecontainnotextheadingsorcolumnlabels.Togetaround
thisrestrictionyoumustusemoreadvancedfileI/Ocommands.BelowIdemonstratebothapproaches
withexamples.I'veincludedanmfiletohandlethemorecomplexcaseofafilewithanarbitrary
numberoflinesoftextheader,inadditiontotextlabelsforeachcolumnofdata.Thoughhardlya
cureall,thisfunctionismuchmoreflexiblethantheloadcommandbecauseitallowsyoutoprovide
documentationinsideyourdatafile.
Here'sanoutlineofthissection
TheMATLABloadCommand
Asimpleplotofdatafromafile
Plottingdatafromfileswithcolumnheadings

TheMATLABloadCommand
ThereismorethanonewaytoreaddataintoMATLABfromafile.Thesimplest,thoughleast
flexible,procedureistousetheloadcommandtoreadtheentirecontentsofthefileinasinglestep.
Theloadcommandrequiresthatthedatainthefilebeorganizedintoarectangulararray.Nocolumn
titlesarepermitted.Oneusefulformoftheloadcommandis
loadname.ext

where``name.ext''isthenameofthefilecontainingthedata.Theresultofthisoperationisthatthe
datain``name.ext''isstoredintheMATLABmatrixvariablecalledname.The``ext''stringisany
threecharacterextension,typically``dat''.Anyextensionexcept``mat''indicatestoMATLABthatthe
dataisstoredasplainASCIItext.A``mat''extensionisreservedforMATLABmatrixfiles(see
``helpload''formoreinformation).
SupposeyouhadasimpleASCIIfilenamedmy_xy.datthatcontainedtwocolumnsofnumbers.The
followingMATLABstatementswillloadthisdataintothematrix``my_xy'',andthencopyitintotwo
vectors,xandy.

>>loadmy_xy.dat;%readdataintothemy_xymatrix
>>x=my_xy(:,1);%copyfirstcolumnofmy_xyintox

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>>y=my_xy(:,2);%andsecondcolumnintoy

Youdon'tneedtocopythedataintoxandy,ofcourse.Wheneverthe``x''dataisneededyoucould
refertoitasmy_xy(:,1).Copyingthedatainto``x''and``y''makesthecodeeasiertoread,andis
moreaestheticallyappealing.TheduplicationofthedatawillnottaxMATLAB'smemoryformost
modestdatasets.
Theloadcommandisdemonstratedinthefollowingexample.
IfthedatayouwishtoloadintoMATLABhasheadinginformation,e.g.,textlabelsforthecolumns,
youhavethefollowingoptionstodealwiththeheadingtext.
Deletetheheadinginformationwithatexteditorandusetheloadcommand:(
Usethefgetlcommandtoreadtheheadinginformationonelineatattime.Youcanthenparse
thecolumnlabelswiththestrtokcommand.ThistechniquerequiresMATLABversion4.2cor
later.
Usethefscanfcommandtoreadtheheadinginformation.
Oftheseoptions,usingfgetlandstrtokisprobablythemostrobustandconvenient.Ifyoureadthe
headingtextintoMATLAB,i.e.,ifyoudon'tusetheloadcommand,thenyouwillhavetoalsoread
theplotdatawithfscanf.Theexample,Plottingdatafromfileswithcolumnheadingsshowshowthis
isdone.

Asimpleplotofdatafromafile
Thisexampleshowyouhowtoloadasimpledatasetandplotit.
ThePDXprecip.datfilecontainstwocolumnsofnumbers.Thefirstisthenumberofthemonth,and
thesecondisthemeanprecipitationrecordedatthePortlandInternationalAirportbetween1961and
1990.(ForanabundanceofweatherdatalikethischeckouttheOregonClimateService)
HerearetheMATLABcommandstocreateasymbolplotwiththedatafromPDXprecip.dat.These
commandsarealsointhescriptfileprecipPlot.mforyoutodownload.

>>loadPDXprecip.dat;%readdataintoPDXprecipmatrix
>>month=PDXprecip(:,1);%copyfirstcolumnofPDXprecipintomonth
>>precip=PDXprecip(:,2);%andsecondcolumnintoprecip

>>plot(month,precip,'o');%plotprecipvs.monthwithcircles

>>xlabel('monthoftheyear');%addaxislabelsandplottitle
>>ylabel('meanprecipitation(inches)');
>>title('MeanmonthlyprecipitationatPortlandInternationalAirport');

Althoughthedatainthemonthvectoristrivial,itisusedhereanywayforthepurposeofexposition.
Theprecedingstatmentscreatethefollowingplot.

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Plottingdatafromfileswithcolumnheadings
Ifallyourdataisstoredinfilesthatcontainnotextlabels,theloadcommandisallyouneed.Ilike
labels,however,becausetheyallowmetodocumentandforgetaboutthecontentsofafile.Tousethe
loadforsuchafileIwouldhavetodeletethecarefullywrittencommentseverytimeIwantedtomake
aplot.Then,inordertominimizemyeffort,Imightstopaddingthecommentstothedatafileinthe
firstplace.Foruscontrolfreaks,thatleadstoanunacceptableincreaseinentropyoftheuniverse!The
solutionistofindawaytohaveMATLABreadanddealwiththetextcommentsatthetopofthefile.
ThefollowingexamplepresentsaMATLABfunctionthatcanreadcolumnsofdatafromafilewhen
thefilehasanarbitrarylengthtextheaderandtextheadingsforeachcolumns.
ThedatainthefilePDXtemperature.datisreproducedbelow

Monthlyaveragedtemperature(19611990)PortlandInternationalAirport
Source:Dr.GeorgeTaylor,
OregonClimateService,http://www.ocs.oregonstate.edu/
TemperaturesareindegreesFarenheit
MonthHighLowAverage
1
45.36 33.84 39.6
2
50.87 35.98 43.43
3
56.05 38.55 47.3
4
60.49 41.36 50.92
5
67.17 46.92 57.05
6
73.82 52.8
63.31
7
79.72 56.43 68.07
8
80.14 56.79 68.47
9
74.54 51.83 63.18
10
64.08 44.95 54.52
11
52.66 39.54 46.1
12
45.59 34.75 40.17

Thefilehasafivelineheader(includingblanklines)andeachcolumnofnumbershasatextlabel.To
usethisdatawiththeloadcommandyouwouldhavetodeletethetextlabelsandsavethefile.A
bettersolutionistohaveMATLABreadthefilewithoutdestroyingthelabels.Betteryet,weshould
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beabletotellMATLABtoreadandusethecolumnheadingswhenitcreatestheplotlegend.
ThereisnobuiltinMATLABcommandtoreadthisdata,sowehavetowriteanmfiletodothejob.
OnesolutionisthefilereadColData.m.Thefulltextofthatfunctionwon'tbereproducedhere.You
canclickonthelinktoexaminethecodeandsaveitonyourcomputerifyoulike.
HereistheprologuetoreadColData.m

function[labels,x,y]=readColData(fname,ncols,nhead,nlrows)
%readColDatareadsdatafromafilecontainingdataincolumns
%thathavetexttitles,andpossiblyotherheadertext
%
%Synopsis:
%[labels,x,y]=readColData(fname)
%[labels,x,y]=readColData(fname,ncols)
%[labels,x,y]=readColData(fname,ncols,nhead)
%[labels,x,y]=readColData(fname,ncols,nhead,nlrows)
%
%Input:
%fname=nameofthefilecontainingthedata(required)
%ncols=numberofcolumnsinthedatafile.Default=2.Avalue
%ofncolsisrequiredonlyifnlrowsisalsospecified.
%nhead=numberoflinesofheaderinformationattheverytopof
%thefile.Headertextisreadanddiscarded.Default=0.
%Avalueofnheadisrequiredonlyifnlrowsisalsospecified.
%nlrows=numberofrowsoflabels.Default=1
%
%Output:
%labels=matrixoflabels.Eachrowoflablesisadifferent
%labelfromthecolumnsofdata.Thenumberofcolumns
%inthelabelsmatrixequalsthelengthofthelongest
%columnheadinginthedatafile.Morethanonerowof
%labelsisallowed.Inthiscasethesecondrowofcolumn
%headingsbeginsinrowncol+1oflabels.Thethirdrow
%columnheadingsbeginsinrow2*ncol+1oflabels,etc.
%
%NOTE:Individualcolumnheadingsmustnotcontainblanks
%
%x=columnvectorofxvalues
%y=matrixofyvalues.yhaslength(x)rowsandncolscolumns

Thefirstlineofthefileisthefunctiondefinition.Followingthatareseverallinesofcomment
statementsthatformaprologuetothefunction.Becausethefirstlineafterthefunctiondefinitionhas
anonblankcommentstatement,typing``helpreadColData''attheMATLABpromptwillcause
MATLABtoprinttheprologueinthecommandwindow.Thisishowtheonlinehelptoall
MATLABfunctionsisprovided.
Theprologueisorganizedintofoursections.Firstisabriefstatementofwhatthefunctiondoes.Next
isasynopsisofthewaysinwhichthefunctioncanbecalled.Followingthattheinputandoutput
parametersaredescribed.
HerearetheMATLABcommandsthatusereadColData.mtoplotthedatainPDXtemperature.dat.
ThecommandsarealsointhescriptfilemulticolPlot.m

>>%readlabelsandxydata
>>[labels,month,t]=readColData('PDXtemperature.dat',4,5);

>>plot(month,t(:,1),'ro',month,t(:,2),'c+',month,t(:,3),'g');

>>xlabel(labels(1,:));%addaxislabelsandplottitle
>>ylabel('temperature(degreesF)');

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>>title('MonthlyaveragetemperatureforPortlandInternationalAirport');

>>%addaplotlegendusinglabelsreadfromthefile
>>legend(labels(2,:),labels(3,:),labels(4,:));

Thesestatmentscreatethefollowingplot.

[PrecedingSection][MasterOutline][SectionOutline][NextSection]

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