Secifying a common range for xlsread function in Matlab

Question

I am trying to figure out how to specify a common range for xlsread() function in matlab.

Usually I use n=xlsread('filename','#sheet','A1:A10'), but I have quite a bit of data in the same sheet and I'd like to know if I can specify it with one range, i.e . if all my data is between '1:10', I want to specify 1:10 as range, and only call the letter values of each column.

I was thinking to do it as follows:

function [a,b,c]=getdata(filename,'1:10')
a=xlsread(filename,1,'A:A'???)
b=xlsread(filename,1,'B:B'???)
c=xlsread(filename,1,'C:C'???)
end

After some research I could not find any information as to how this is done.

Thanks in advance,

Greg

So, if you have 10 columns worth of data you want to read those 10 columns and if there are 15 columns you want to read all the 15 columns right? Or you are trying to do something else? — Nirvedh Meshram, Apr 17 '17 at 17:29

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

If you want to read 1 to 10 rows of column A, use:

data = xlsread(filename, 1, 'A1:A10');

If you want to read 1 to 10 rows of all columns, use:

data = xlsread(filename, 1, '1:10');

If you want to read 1 to 10 rows of, say, first three columns A, B, and C, use:

data = xlsread(filename, 1, 'A1:C10');

Using dynamic variable names is always a bad idea. Read this for explanation. But if you still want to create a, b, and c and so on depending on the number of columns in the Excel file, you can use:

for k=1:size(data,2)
   assignin('caller', char(96+k), data(:,k));  %or char(64+k) for block letters
end

The above will work if number of columns are less than or equal to 26. This may only be feasible if you're dealing with a few columns. But I still recommend to avoid it.

Secifying a common range for xlsread function in Matlab

1 Answers1