Plot text file

I have a problem on plotting text data. I save it as .dat file. And then I use this code to plot data:

load tec.dat;
Time = tec(:,1)/3600;
Vtec = tec(:,2);

plot(Time,Vtec,'k');

My sampling y data is discontinuous. For example, the sampling time at 12000 second has y = 20.05. Then, the data skipped to the sampling time 57840 second that y = 6.14 (no data from 12000 - 57840 second). In fact, Matlab should not plot the y data between 12000 - 57840 second. However, Matlab also plots trend of the data from 12000 - 57840 second by itself as a linear line. How can I solve this problem?

[Rick Rosson]

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Answer 1

[Rick Rosson]

There are several ways to do this.

One very easy method is to use the stem function instead of the plot function:

   stem(Time,Vtec,'k');

Another method would be to insert the value NaN into the data vector at time steps where you have no valid data. You would also have to insert a corresponding time value (an actual number) in the time vector so that the time and data vectors would have the same size.

HTH.

Rick