Read only numerical lines from mixed text file

Hello,

I have a text file with xyz-coordinates that looks like this:

Now, I only want to import the numerical lines into a matrix with 3 columns, or import everything and select the numbers later. I tried several combinations of importdata, load, textscan, headerlines, format definitions... but it never fully works: a large portion of the data is missing, the format is not right, there's no data loaded at all... I found solutions for text files that have only text in the beginning of the file or have a fixed string at the beginning of each line, but I don't manage to convert them to a code that is suitable for my problem.

Can anyone help me?

[KSSV]

Attach that data as a text file or copy it here....instead of a image.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

You can use textscan() with format '%f%f%f' and 'CommentStyle', '#'

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/textscan.html#input_argument_namevalue_CommentStyle

[Tina]

This works perfectly.

data = textscan(fid,'%f%f%f','CommentStyle', '#');

Thanks!

[Jackson Barlow]

Is this a strenuous process for my computer in I have far more data than the aforementioned? I am simply wondering how long it would take.

[Walter Roberson]

It can add up on large enough files. textscan() is one of the more efficient reading routines. You might be able to do marginally better with fscanf() if the format is very regular, but you would have to handle the various # lines yourself.

[Walter Roberson]

Sometimes it can be worthwhile to invoke perl() to reformat input into something that MATLAB can handle easily. For example, for the file posted in the Question above, if the leading # are replaced with leading % then the result is something that MATLAB can load() as text.