How to read and save matrix in full precision

Dear list,

I have a data file with 245 rows and 19 columns containing numbers with 9-digit deciman precision. Below is the first line:

1.259411696 80.725541123 0.397698672 9.453072484 19.901795901 24932908.192915406 449.088485915 485.063672597 1565.024809328 1577.924419388 10.749349506 0.547323907 49.039758899 861.176885206 0.903715327 7.147523310 44.290673508 34.844124016 50.110785484

When I load the data into a matrix using "texscan", the largest number (6th) dominates and the rest are rounded and saved in the form "%1.4f * 1.0e+07". Is there any way to save the numbers in a matrix as they are in data file without losing precision?

Here's an example of what I mean:

str='1.259411696 80.725541123 0.397698672 9.453072484 19.901795901 24932908.192915406 449.088485915 485.063672597 1565.024809328 1577.924419388 10.749349506 0.547323907 49.039758899 861.176885206 0.903715327 7.147523310 44.290673508 34.844124016 50.110785484';

data = textscan(str, '%.9f')

celldisp(data)

data{1} =

    1.0e+07 *

    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000
    2.4933
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0002
    0.0002
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0001
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000
    0.0000

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

Values are stored in double precision by default, but only a few digits are displayed by default. You can change the display using the format command.

For example, try

>> format long
>> celldisp(data)

Answer 2

[Jan]

Beside the effect mentioned by the cyclist, the conversion from decimal to binary and backwards loose accuracy. There are binary numbers, which cannot be represented exactlyas decimal numbers and vice-versa. What it the 9-digit representation of 0.9999999999999998?

So if you need to keep a certain accuracy, do not store values as ASCII text, but binary.