Choice of Database for smooth data import into Matlab

Good Afternoon,

I would like to store my input data in a Database external to matlab. Any recommendation regarding the type of DB (Excel, SQL,...) for which the data import runs best?

I heard the Excel file has to be saved under another file type (.mat?) to be read efficiently in matlab which would be kind of a constraint since any modification of the Excel sheet forces to delete the old .mat file and save a new one...

Thank you!

[Guillaume]

While excel can be used as a data source, I would hardly call it a database. Particularly, if you compare it to SQL databases. The database software that is part of Office is Access, not Excel. Databases have many features that excel can't provide. It's not clear whether you need any of them though, so you need to explain better your use case.

I heard the Excel file has to be saved under another file type (.mat?) to be read efficiently in matlab

Huh? Matlab can read excel files directly using xlsread or readtable. There's no set method to convert an excel file into a mat file anyway, so if you were to do that, you'd first have to use one of these two functions.

[Lenilein]

Thank you Guillaume, your hints actually helped me figure out that Excel should be fine for my use since I'm not going to feed big amount of data in the model...

Is there a way I can accept your comment to close the ticket?

[Guillaume]

I've reposted my comment as an answer.

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

While excel can be used as a data source, I would hardly call it a database. Particularly, if you compare it to SQL databases. The database software that is part of Office is Access, not Excel. Databases have many features that excel can't provide. It's not clear whether you need any of them though, so you need to explain better your use case.

I heard the Excel file has to be saved under another file type (.mat?) to be read efficiently in matlab

Huh? Matlab can read excel files directly using xlsread or readtable. There's no set method to convert an excel file into a mat file anyway, so if you were to do that, you'd first have to use one of these two functions.