Efficient way to import data

What is the convenient way to import from a csv file containing numbers and letters for data sorting (like Excel filter function)? Does it matter if I read it as table instead of string arrays?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

The most convenient way is typically readtable()

The most efficient way appears to be to use textscan(), according to the timings that people have posted. I have seen one report that in some cases readtable() can be much much slower -- though for my purposes it has always been a reasonable speed.

[jingz3]

Thank you! readtable() works well for me.