Question about fgetl(fileID)

I have a file named report_data.rtf which looks like

I want my code to grab these, and insert them somewhere. I've used:

fileID = fopen('report_data.rtf','r');
patientName = fgetl(fileID);
dateOfBirth = fgetl(fileID);
healthy_exposed = fgetl(fileID);
pus = fgetl(fileID);
necrotic = fgetl(fileID);
ulcer_stage = fgetl(fileID);
area = fgetl(fileID);
volume = fgetl(fileID);
fclose(fileID);

But I'm getting an error grabbing the values. How should my report_data.rtf file look like so that my code can grab them properly?

[dpb]

Save the file as plain text, not .rtf (rich text format) which has a bunch of formatting info in it besides the actual data.

Then, presuming you want to actually read the values of the variables not just the whole text line, you'll need to parse the data. The patient name if it isn't delimited will be the fly in the ointment as the first and last name will be parsed as two separate strings unless enclosed in quotes to indicate it's a single string with embedded space.

[Golnar]

I've changed the format to plain text, but the rest of the file remains the same. How do I parse strings, my friend?

And to extract three of the parameters (healthy_exposed, pus, necrotic) for the purpose of a stacked bar graph, the following code is not working:

figure;
bar(1:3, cat(1,[healthy_exposed, pus, necrotic]), 0.5, 'stack');

% Adjust the axis limits
axis([0 4 0 100]);

% Add title and axis labels
title('Chronology of Wound Specifications');
xlabel('Date of Visit');
ylabel('Percentage');

% Add a legend
legend('Healthy', 'Infection', 'Necrotic');

Answer 1

[per isakson]

Try

    function    ccsm()
        fid = fopen( 'cssm.txt', 'r' );
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        patieritName = cac{2};
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        dataofBwth = datenum( cac{2}, 'mm/ddyyyy' );
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        heaFthy_exposed = str2double(cac{2});
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        pus = str2double(cac{2});
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        necrotic = str2double(cac{2});
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        ulcer_stage = str2double(cac{2});
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        area = str2double(cac{2});
        cac = regexp( fgetl( fid ), '=', 'split' );
        volume = str2double(cac{2});

        fclose('all');
    end

where cssm.txt contains

    patieritName = John Doe
    dataofBwth = 04/2511987
    heaFthy_exposed =75
    pus = 10
    necrotic = 15
    ulcer_stage = 3
    area = 89
    volume = 90

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

fgetl() retrieves entire lines as strings. You need to extract the numeric information.

You should consider using fileread() to read the entire text file and then using regexp() to extract the strings corresponding to the numbers of interest, followed by str2double() to convert them to numeric form.