This document provides documentation on the MATLAB importdata function, which loads data from external files into MATLAB. It describes the basic syntax, parameters, and functionality of importdata for importing numeric data from ASCII files while interpreting column separators and header lines. Examples are given to demonstrate loading data using importdata from files, the clipboard, and returning detected file properties.

1. MATLAB ASHOKA BAIRWA
Practical –6
Aim: Write a MATLAB code for importing data from external files.
Theory: importdata
Load data from file
Syntax : A = importdata(filename)
A = importdata('-pastespecial')
A = importdata(___,delimiterIn)
A = importdata(___,delimiterIn,headerlinesIn)
[A,delimiterOut,headerlinesOut] = importdata(___)
A = importdata(filename)
A = importdata(filename)
loads data into array A.
The output, A, is class uint8 because the helper function, imread, returns empty results
for colormap and alpha.

2. MATLAB ASHOKA BAIRWA
A = importdata('-pastespecial')
A = importdata('-pastespecial')
loads data from the system clipboard rather than from a file.
Copy the following lines to the clipboard. Select the text, right-click, and then select Copy.
1,2,3
4,5,6
7,8,9
Import the clipboard data into MATLAB® by typing the following.

3. MATLAB ASHOKA BAIRWA
A = importdata(___,delimiterIn)
A = importdata(___,delimiterIn):
interprets delimiterIn as the column separator in ASCII file, filename, or the clipboard data.
You can use delimiterIn with any of the input arguments in the above syntaxes.
delimiterIn — Column separator character
character vector | string scalar
Column separator character, specified as a character vector or a string scalar. The default character
is interpreted from the file. Use 't' for tab.
Example: ','
Example: ' '
Data Types: char | string
headerlinesIn — Number of text header lines in ASCII file
nonnegative scalar integer
Number of text header lines in the ASCII file, specified as a nonnegative scalar integer. If you do not
specify headerlinesIn, the importdata function detects this value in the file.
Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64
delimiterOut — Detected column separator in the input ASCII file
character vector
Detected column separator in the input ASCII file, returned as a character vector.
headerlinesOut — Detected number of text header lines in the input ASCII file
integer
Detected number of text header lines in the input ASCII file, returned as an integer.
filename — Name and extension of file to import
character vector | string scalar
Name and extension of the file to import, specified as a character vector or a string scalar.
If importdata recognizes the file extension, it calls the MATLAB helper function designed to import
the associated file format (such as load for MAT-files or xlsread for spreadsheets).
Otherwise, importdata interprets the file as a delimited ASCII file.
For ASCII files and spreadsheets, importdata expects to find numeric data in a rectangular form
(that is, like a matrix). Text headers can appear above or to the left of the numeric data, as follows:
• Column headers or file description text at the top of the file, above the numeric data.
• Row headers to the left of the numeric data.

4. MATLAB ASHOKA BAIRWA
Example: 'myFile.jpg'
Data Types: char | string
A = importdata(___,delimiterIn,headerlinesIn)
A = importdata(___,delimiterIn,headerlinesIn)
loads data from ASCII file, filename, or the clipboard, reading numeric data starting from
line headerlinesIn+1.

5. MATLAB ASHOKA BAIRWA
[A,delimiterOut,headerlinesOut] = importdata(___)
[A,delimiterOut,headerlinesOut] = importdata(___)
additionally returns the detected delimiter character for the input ASCII file
in delimiterOut and the detected number of header lines in headerlinesOut, using any of
the input arguments in the previous syntaxes.