Reading data from csv with non uniform formatting

Hi,

I am trying to read data from a cvs file (sample attached) with uneven formatting where there are a few sentences and lines with missing data points. I have been reading the file and then getting the row number for each time the column with is different to extract the data. I am trying to read ( and remove) the sentences and also remove the partially complete rows and creating one array from the remaining data. Is there any better way of doing this withouth having to check which row is incomplete? Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Thank you

[Cris LaPierre]

It's a little unclear to me what the final result should be from the sample file you have shared. Is this the expectation?

A,1,2,3,4
B,1,2,3,4
C,1,2,3,4
D,1,2,3,4
A,1,2,3,4
B,1,2,3,4
C,1,2,3,4
A,1,2,3,4
D,1,2,3,4
C,1,2,3,4
E,1,2,3,4

[AG15]

Thanks a lot for the help, that is the intention to remove the rows. I have been using textscan to scan the document. Would you recommend moving to readtable instead?

[Stephen23]

"Would you recommend moving to readtable instead? "

Yes.

[AG15]

Thank you

[Cris LaPierre]

Yes. If you are new to tables, see this page on how to access data in tables.

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

I would use readtable with the settings to 'omitrow' when data is missing.

T = readtable('sample.csv','MissingRule','omitrow')

T = 11×5 table
    Var1     Var2    Var3    Var4    Var5
    _____    ____    ____    ____    ____

    {'A'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'B'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'C'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'D'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'A'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'B'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'C'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'A'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'D'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'C'}     1       2       3       4  
    {'E'}     1       2       3       4