ascci reading fscanf help.

Hi there, I have a ascii data file that i need to remove the first 12 rows (they contain metadata) so i do like this:

fid=fopen('madeira_3.asc')
for i=1:12;
    fgetl(fid);
end

(i don't need the metadata saved so i just dump into ans)

now, i usually do a fcanf to read the rest and it works, but this time my data has decimals and is space delimited. here is how the data looks like:

" -17,313  33,371 -3971
 -17,304  33,371 -3968
 -17,296  33,371 -3964
 -17,288  33,371 -3962
 -17,279  33,371 -3959
 -17,271  33,371 -3955 "

I used the code below to try to organize it in a 3 column matrix but i get stuck in the -17 when it finds the comma it stops, only if i read it as a string it works fine, but i dont want it as a string.

grid_2=fscanf(fid,'%f');

Could you please help me out. Tks in advanced. Rod.

Answer 1

[Sean de Wolski]

How about just using dlmread?

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

grid_2=fscanf(fid,'%f,%f%f,%f%f,%f');

Then put the columns together, such as column1 * 1000 + sign(column1) .* column2

Alternately, read as strings, delete the commas, and parse the result as numbers.