Having issue using the command of readtable

Hi folks,

I am using readtable command to read the colums ('timestamp', 'Record Type', 'Value') in the attached file.

rawTable=readtable(path) % where path is the locaton of file in my computer

However, when I read variable rawTable.timestamp, it gives me the values in datetime format. However, I want these values in cell array format {'dd:mm:yy HH:mm'}.

Anyhelp would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Note: In original file, I was having values in cell array format. When i edited the .csv file, then I was getting 'timestamp' valus in datetime format.

I tried using different tricks like

im=detectImportOptions(path, 'NumHeaderLines', 0);

im=setvartype(im, 1, 'char');

rawTable=readtable(path,im);

With this trick, I am getting time in string array but in different format e.g. {10/01/2020 10:20'}, {'10:01:20 10:20'}. I would like to have timestamp values in unique string array format {'dd:mm:yy HH:mm'}.

[dpb]

"I want these values in cell array format {'dd:mm:yy HH:mm'}. "

May I be so bold as to ask why would you want datetime data as cellstr instead of the natural datetime?

You can always generate the output format however you want it for whatever purpose besides using it as time; but you completely lose the ability to manipulate, search, calculate, plot, ... anything else in that form.

Some background on the application might help to understand...

You can, of course, use an import options object and specifiy the way you want each variable interpreted on input if you're adamant in going that route.

Answer 1

[Sahil Jain]

According to my understanding of the question, you want to convert the ‘timestamp’ column of your table from datetime format to cell array format. The code below should help you achieve this.

rawTable = readtable('data.csv');  % read the table 
cell_array = convertStringsToChars(cellstr(rawTable.Timestamp, 'dd:MM:yy HH:mm')); % convert datetime to char cell array 
rawTable.Timestamp = cell_array; % add the cell array to the table 

With this approach, you can format the timestamp string as you want by changing the 'dd:MM:yy HH:mm' string.