extracting data from .ags file

I am looking to get data from .ags files (a kind of text file). The data is in different blocks with enters seperating those blocks and all blocks represent tables with the first line as the name and the rest in table format with commas seperating columns.

Which function and import options could I use to get the seperate tables? I just need a way to start, as I tried using readtable, textscan and the import data button, which doesnt show the file as an option. I also used readlines, that did give me all the lines in seperate cells as strings, but I was not able to create the tables. I added a small part of the data to show how it looks.

[Cris LaPierre]

I don't see a built-in function for this, so you will likely have to do this manually. You can find a description of the format here.

For functions, I would problaby use readlines and split.

[jessupj]

long ago, i had written a script to convert *.ags geotech files with specfic content to csv but i'd used the system shell tools (e.g. awk, sed, etc).

If i had to do it all over again, i'd check

https://www.ags.org.uk/data-format/software/

and see if i could use the Bentley ags --> csv converter, and then readtable from within matlab.

[Walter Roberson]

Are they geodata?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365149699_python-ags4_A_Python_library_to_read_write_and_validate_AGS4_geodata_files

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

Not pretty, but here's a quick and dirty template you can use to import AGS files. Since it appears the number of tables in the file can vary, I return the tables in a structure. If you prefer each table be a separate workspace variable, you can uncomment the assignin line of code on line 70.

Again, this is only meant to help get started. It is not extensively tested.

unzip('Show data.zip')
agsS = loadAGS('Show data.ags')

agsS = struct with fields:
    PROJ: [1×7 table]
    TRAN: [1×10 table]
    LOCA: [17×16 table]
    HDPH: [72×9 table]
    SCPG: [56×20 table]
    SCPT: [187×23 table]
    SCDG: [34×9 table]
    SCDT: [33×6 table]

agsS.SCDT

ans = 33×6 table
       LOCA_ID         SCPG_TESN      SCDG_DPTH    SCDT_SECS    SCDT_RES    SCDT_PWP2
    _____________    _____________    _________    _________    ________    _________

    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           0        2.337       0.0591  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         0.5        2.177       0.0701  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           1        2.108       0.0788  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         1.5        2.069       0.0866  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           2        2.033       0.0936  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         2.5        1.999       0.1003  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           3        1.972       0.1064  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         3.5        1.944       0.1122  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           4        1.925       0.1176  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         4.5        1.905       0.1227  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           5        1.886       0.1277  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         5.5        1.871       0.1321  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           6        1.855       0.1361  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         6.5        1.836       0.1401  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19           7        1.822       0.1436  
    "IJV001-PCPT"    "IJV001-PCPT"      11.19         7.5        1.806       0.1469