I am having trouble importing space delimited data from a text file.

I have a relatively small text file with just two columns and it will not import. I tried using:

filename = 'unpolished_100x';
delimiterIn = ' ';
headerlinesIn = 0;
A = importdata(filename,delimiterIn,headerlinesIn);

and:

X = importdata('-pastespecial')

and I get this message:

Undefined function 'importdata' for input arguments of type 'char'.

Every time I hit "Import data" I receive this message:

com.mathworks.jmi.MatlabException: Undefined function 'uiimport' for input arguments of type 'char'.
  at com.mathworks.jmi.NativeMatlab.SendMatlabMessage(Native Method)
  at com.mathworks.jmi.NativeMatlab.sendMatlabMessage(NativeMatlab.java:265)
  at com.mathworks.jmi.MatlabLooper.sendMatlabMessage(MatlabLooper.java:120)
  at com.mathworks.jmi.Matlab.mtFeval(Matlab.java:1619)
  at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.workspace.WorkspaceCommands$1.runOnMatlabThread(WorkspaceCommands.java:1246)
  at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.workspace.WorkspaceCommands$1.runOnMatlabThread(WorkspaceCommands.java:1241)
  at com.mathworks.jmi.MatlabWorker$2.run(MatlabWorker.java:79)
  at com.mathworks.jmi.NativeMatlab.dispatchMTRequests(NativeMatlab.java:440)|||||||

[dpb]

Mayhaps you've aliased the supplied function...what does

which importdata -all

return at command line?

You can generally fix such errors by

clear importdata

in case you did accidentally end up with the string importdata on the LHS of an assignment and that did, in fact, alias the function name.

If that doesn't work, post back...

[Emily Lubicich]

I'm not really sure what you mean by "which importdata -all"

Every importdata command I try returns: Undefined function 'importdata' for input arguments of type 'char'.

[Walter Roberson]

At the command prompt, type the command

which importdata -all

This does not involve running importdata, only asking MATLAB what it knows about routines named importdata

[Emily Lubicich]

It says "'importdata' not found."

[Walter Roberson]

Follow the steps I listed in my Answer then.

[Emily Lubicich]

I did but it still says

com.mathworks.jmi.MatlabException: Undefined function 'uiimport' for input arguments of type 'char'. at com.mathworks.jmi.NativeMatlab.SendMatlabMessage(Native Method) at com.mathworks.jmi.NativeMatlab.sendMatlabMessage(NativeMatlab.java:265) at com.mathworks.jmi.MatlabLooper.sendMatlabMessage(MatlabLooper.java:120) at com.mathworks.jmi.Matlab.mtFeval(Matlab.java:1619) at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.workspace.WorkspaceCommands$1.runOnMatlabThread(WorkspaceCommands.java:1246) at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.workspace.WorkspaceCommands$1.runOnMatlabThread(WorkspaceCommands.java:1241) at com.mathworks.jmi.MatlabWorker$2.run(MatlabWorker.java:79) at com.mathworks.jmi.NativeMatlab.dispatchMTRequests(NativeMatlab.java:440)

when I click import data

[Walter Roberson]

My answer is: try rehash toolboxcache

If that does not work, try restoredefaultpath

If that does not work, reinstall MATLAB.

[Emily Lubicich]

I'm still getting the same response when I try to import data. I feel like I'm just making some stupid mistake as someone who hasn't work with the program in a while. The text document is on my desk top and the "current folder" is my desk top. My "workspace" window is empty. Importing data should allow me to add the columns of data in my text file to my workspace so I can use them, correct?

[Walter Roberson]

Did you reinstall MATLAB and you are still getting the problem?

[Emily Lubicich]

I don't think I can reinstall, i am at a university so i don't currently have access to what I would need to reinstall. Could it be that my subscription (or access code, not sure what it's called) has expired?

[dpb]

If you can run anything in Matlab then license is not the issue. If you have done the steps Walter suggested and still

which importdata

returns "'importdata' not found." then you (or someone else on the system) has pretty clearly somehow managed to have deleted the m-file and only reinstall or somehow else of getting the copy back is going to fix it.

There are a "veritable plethora" of other input file functions besides importdata, however, so try one of them. If the file is numeric then

data=dlmread('unpolished_100x');

should suffice. If you get a similar message about dlmread as importdata, then it would appear the damage done is more than just to the one file, although it could still be a path issue, but the instructions Walter gave should've restored it to default.

I presume you have exited and restarted Matlab entirely already just in case it's somehow a memory corruption issue that will go away if start over again. Carrying that a step further, rebooting is a moderately drastic step we used to have to do frequently to recover from various Windows problems; that isn't so much any more, thank goodness, but still is a useful club at times.

[Emily Lubicich]

That data command returns: Undefined function 'dlmread' for input arguments of type 'char'.

I have restarted matlab but not the computer. I'm leaving for the day so when I start it up in the morning I will give it a try. If it doesn't work then I will contact IT on campus. They can reinstall it. Thank you both for the help!

[dpb]

That sounds as though the IOFUN directory that holds all i/o routines is either missing or not in the MATLABPATH as was beginning to suspect. Probably reinstallation is going to be the only cure, but what does

path

return?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Try, in this order:

rehash toolboxcache

and

restoredefaultpath

and if neither of those helps, then reinstall MATLAB.