Import .csv with missing delimiters and values

I am trying to import some (generated) .csv files into MATLAB. Unfortunately, some of the files have rows with blank entries AND missing delimiters (in my case a semi-colon is the delimiter). This means when I am trying to import the .csv file using readtable, the dimensions of the table are wrong, i.e. MATLAB is confused and packs the data in cells. I need the table to be the right size so that I can use it later on.

An example .csv file would look like this:

date;time;var1;var2;var3

02.06.21;15:00:00;1;2;3

02.06.21;16:00:00;4

02.06.21;17:00:00;5;6;7

As you can see, there are missing values in the second row AND the delimiters are also missing. Is there any way I can import the .csv file so that the table has the width of the widest row, and that the needed delimiters would be added automatically (I don't really care about the value that would be put in these spaces but I need the format).

Thanks for any help in advance!

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

I am able to use readtable to load the data you have shared without any trouble. It does not put the data into a cell, and it fills the missing columns with NaN.

% No options set. Year is wrong, but table width is correct.
attempt1 = readtable("HH_file.csv")

attempt1 = 3×5 table
       date         time      var1    var2    var3
    __________    ________    ____    ____    ____

    02.06.0021    15:00:00     1        2       3 
    02.06.0021    16:00:00     4      NaN     NaN 
    02.06.0021    17:00:00     5        6       7 

% Now add some formatting to date and time
opts = detectImportOptions("HH_file.csv");
opts = setvartype(opts,"date",'datetime');
opts = setvaropts(opts,"date",'InputFormat','dd.MM.yy');
opts = setvartype(opts,"time",'duration');
opts = setvaropts(opts,"time",'InputFormat','hh:mm:ss');
attempt2 = readtable("HH_file.csv",opts)

attempt2 = 3×5 table
      date        time      var1    var2    var3
    ________    ________    ____    ____    ____

    02.06.21    15:00:00     1        2       3 
    02.06.21    16:00:00     4      NaN     NaN 
    02.06.21    17:00:00     5        6       7 

I didn't have R2020a installed, but I did test this code in R2019b. It worked there.