How can I convert all string cells in a table to numerical values?

Hi I'm trying to import a text file into a table format. The text file is separated by single spaces, which I have included as an attachment. However, several columns have the data wrapped in a quote mark - why is this and what can I do to remove them? My matlab code looks as follows:

filename = 'test.txt';
T = readtable(filename,'Delimiter',' ','ReadVariableNames',false);
T([1],:) = [];
size(T);

EDIT: I see now the quote marks represent a string in the cell, but how can I convert all the strings to numerical values?

[Stephen23]

Note that you could easily use READMATRIX for that data file:

format long G
M = readmatrix('test.txt', 'NumHeaderLines',6)

M = 11×9

1.0e+00 * 690000000 -0.07159581 -0.8339922 -0.1265173 -0.01405961 -0.125782 -0.01377937 0.2477304 -0.920722 690193750 0.07831148 -0.7403554 -0.08229134 0.0641926 -0.08235301 0.06380991 -0.000491137 -0.8711369 690387500 -0.02860679 -0.7102471 0.07023682 0.0898001 0.07096643 0.0912611 0.5155896 -0.6735609 690581250 0.06169727 -0.8436321 -0.01743717 0.04197023 -0.01737786 0.04100154 0.3686155 -0.8648374 690775000 -0.03250416 -0.8290954 0.02440995 0.06105115 0.02438955 0.06043163 0.3282914 -0.9570565 690968750 -0.03318164 -0.7611125 0.0895226 0.137869 0.08931927 0.1369279 0.2230548 -0.8250987 691162500 -0.00651951 -0.704771 0.1610863 -0.02032301 0.161159 -0.01911074 0.2983101 -0.8181552 691356250 0.02296278 -0.8168985 0.05552047 -0.09635511 0.05485816 -0.09586232 0.2789877 -0.7758706 691550000 0.009161192 -0.7716845 0.0200344 -0.05287114 0.01965514 -0.05153497 0.4261074 -0.8412111 691743750 -0.08785366 -0.7999797 0.04284034 -0.01224851 0.04246143 -0.01270002 0.2247821 -0.9183822

Answer 1

[Stijn Haenen]

If you use the import data tool, you can chose to ouput the data in matrix instead of a table.

With this tool you can also generate a script to import your data:

opts = delimitedTextImportOptions("NumVariables", 9);

% Specify range and delimiter
opts.DataLines = [7, Inf];
opts.Delimiter = " ";

% Specify column names and types
opts.VariableNames = ["Agilent", "TechnologiesE8362BMY43020256A060432", "VarName3", "VarName4", "VarName5", "VarName6", "VarName7", "VarName8", "VarName9"];
opts.VariableTypes = ["double", "double", "double", "double", "double", "double", "double", "double", "double"];

% Specify file level properties
opts.ExtraColumnsRule = "ignore";
opts.EmptyLineRule = "read";
opts.ConsecutiveDelimitersRule = "join";
opts.LeadingDelimitersRule = "ignore";

% Import the data
test = readtable("D:\thuis\test.txt", opts);

%% Convert to output type
test = table2array(test);

%% Clear temporary variables
clear opts