Convert dat file into fprintf using strtok, strrep and char functions

I've used textscan to laod a dat file into matlab the file contains 100 lines and each line is in this format "string-001-1983-string" and i have to do the following: 1. Separate them into 3 columns so that "string-001" are in one, "1938" is in another and "string" is in the third (using strtok) 2. Then i need to remove the dash in the first column so that is read "string 001" (using strrep) 3. Finally i need to use fprintf to print them in a file with three columns and a header on each.

I have managed to use strtok to split it into 4 columns (separated at the dashes) but it's proving difficult to put the first two together again. If i do the following:

 fileid = fopen('nem_skjal.dat');

 if fileid == -1
    disp('Error, file did not open');
 else
    disp('File opened successfully');

    students = textscan(fileid,'%s');

    % attempted to split at second dash but did not work
    % [studid rest] = strtok(students,'-19') 

    [stud rest] = strtok(students,'-'); %stud = student
    [id rest]   = strtok(rest,'-'); % id = student number
    [year rest] = strtok(rest,'-'); % year = birthyear
    [sub rest]  = strtok(rest,'-'); % sub = subject

    stud_dash = strrep(stud,'i','i-')
    charid=char(id{:});
    charstud = char(stud_dash{:});

    studid = strcat(charstud,charid);

    % Failed attempts...
    %stud_dash = strrep(stud,'i','i-')
    %chars=char(studid{:});
    %studid = [stud id];
    %studid_dash = strrep(studid,'i','i-')

end

As you can see i have tried many different approaches but i get the error "Cell elements must be character arrays". That's my main error, but i get a whole bunch of others. Can anyone help me in finding the best way to do this?

Thanks in advance, Freyja

Answer 1

[dpb]

This is a job for regexp()...

or just fix the input to fprintf()...

>> c={'string-001-1983-string'};
>> d=textscan(c{:},'%s%d%d%s','delimiter','-');
>> fprintf('%s %d,%d,%s\n',char(d{1}),d{2},d{3},char(d{4}))
string 1,1983,string
>>

[Freyja]

Hi,

Thanks for replying! Unfortunately it didn't work for my data but i have worked out half the problem. I've now got 3 cell arrays, which i can use also as char arrays, however i do not know how to print them using fprintf. This is my attempt so far:

fileid = fopen('nem_skjal.dat');

if fileid == -1
  disp('Error, file did not open');
else
  disp('File opened successfully');

    nemendur = textscan(fileid,'%s');
    nemendur = nemendur{1,1};

    [stud rest] = strtok(nemendur,'-'); %stud = nemendur
    [id rest]   = strtok(rest,'-'); % id = nemendar númer
    [year rest] = strtok(rest,'-'); % year = fæðingaár
    [fag rest]  = strtok(rest,'-'); % fag = námsleið

    studid       = strcat(stud, '-',id);
    studidcell   = cellstr(studid);
    studid_space = strrep(studidcell,'-',' ');

    % Change them all to char
    %studid_space = char(studid_space);
    %year = char(year);
    %fag  = char(fag);

    %fprintf('%s %d,%d,%s\n',char(d{1}),d{2},d{3},char(d{4}))
    len = length(nemendur{1});
    for i = 1:len
        fprintf('%c%c%c\n',studid_space{1}(i)...
            ,year{1} (i),fag{1}(i))
    end
end

But his gives me nothing useful.

[dpb]

What does "didn't work" mean, specifically?

Give a sample of the input data and a desired output...