load function: how do you to skip lines in ASCII File that generate errors?

I am using the load function to load data from an ASCII file filled with numeric data.

when running the load function, as in:

loaded_data=load(strcat(pat,'/',filename),' ');

If there is a line that has non-numeric values in it, the load function will not load the file.

for example, I will get an error like:

Unknown text on line number 468 of ASCII file /path/to/file/data_2022_09_18.dat

"********************".

where the string of *'s is in line 468 and creating the error.

Is there a way that I can load the file, and skip over lines which generate this error?

[Stephen23]

Use READMATRIX and the options TreatAsMissing, TrimNonNumeric, etc. to ignore those characters.

Use READTABLE and the options TreatAsMissing, MissingRule, etc. to ignore those rows.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

No. load() of a text file is documented as only being guaranteed to work for files saved with save -ascii

In practice load() of a text file will ignore lines whose first character is % but it is not able to ignore other forms of comments. You will need to switch to using a different way of loading text.

You might consider textscan with a 'CommentStyle' option.