CSV Date time error

Hello all,

I hope someone can help point me in the right direction. I may have been staring too much at how to achieve this but here goes:

Currently testing out how to import CSV file into matlab whiles using the date time information from the file onto a graph.

The file imports ok and shows the date time as e.g

if true
  % 2013-12-16 11:21:51.110
    2013-12-17 13:53:53.710
    2013-12-17 10:04:58.710

end

This is displayed in a 65x1 cell called date_time and the other column is called amplitude which shows numerical data.

Im trying to plot a scatter graph which uses the date_time against the amplitude but keep on getting an error (Error using plot Invalid first data argument).

I have tried to convert the csv file into excel, import into matlab in where the date_time is shown in numerical values. This does work although the date time information is not displayed on the graph.

The first option would be easier to use as this will stop having to import via excel first then into matlab. Would the date_time need to be converted into numerical points first, if so im not sure how this is done.

Would appreciate some guidence on this. Sure its pretty easy but Matlab is slowly defeating me.

If you need anymore information on this happy to send some over.

Many thanks

Answer 1

[Ingrid]

what is your code to read the CSV file? You say that it reads in ok but there might be a better way of reading in your dates such that you automatically read the string and convert it to a datetime value that you can use to plot. This can be done if you use %{fmt}D in textscan

also, to show the string of dates instead of the numerical values have a look at

doc datetick

Answer 2

[Peter Perkins]

Dan, your description is a little light on details. Assuming you have data like a bigger version of this ...

timestamps = ...
    {'2013-12-16 11:21:51.110';
     '2013-12-17 13:53:53.710';
     '2013-12-17 10:04:58.710';
     '2013-12-18 05:23:51.710';
     '2013-12-17 22:58:50.710'};
amplitude = rand(5,1);

... then this code (in R2014b or later) ...

timestamps = datetime(timestamps,'Format','yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS')
plot(timestamps,amplitude,'o')

will make a figure like this:

Hope this helps.

[Dan Howard]

Many thanks for the prompt replies.

I think I am in way over my head with this and need to take some baby steps first.

I think my problem is creating a script file from scratch and then adding in examples along the way.

My first script is to open a CSV file and then seperate ouot the information from there

if true
  % [data, txtdata] = xlsread('Radial.csv');
end

Next step will be to seperate using a delimiter as to then read the ampliture and datetime within the file.

[Peter Perkins]

Dan, you might find it easier to use readtable. You'll get a table containing a cell array of strings for the timestamps and a double for the amplitudesYou can then convert the strings using the datetime function, something like

t.timestamps = datetime(timestamps,'Format','yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS')

Hope this helps.

[Dan Howard]

Ahhhh, that makes perfect sense, many thanks Peter.

It always helps when you ( meaning myself) pays a little more attention sometimes :-)

[Dan Howard]

Peter, still on the same topic. quick question..

converting numerical data (ie op_datetime 1372x1 table)

using

if true
  % op_datetime = datenum('op_datetime','dd-mmm-yyyy HH:MM:SS')
end

This gives an error saying:

Error using datenum (linie 178) DATENUM failed.

Caused by: Error using dtstr2dtnummx Failed on converting date string to date number.

Am I right in using datenum?

Converting numerical date that is stored in a table to the date/time format 'dd-mmm-yyyy HH:MM:SS'.

Many thanks

[Dan Howard]

Forgot to include the numberical data:

if true
  % 41855.5185077546
    41855.5185077546
    41855.5185077546
    41856.423928125
    41856.423928125
    411856.59713622

end

Entire table consists (1372x1 table)

[Peter Perkins]

It's not clear how you're reading things in or what you end up with.Let's say you have a file that looks like this:

date_time,amplitude
2013-12-16 11:21:51.110,1
2013-12-17 13:53:53.710,2
2013-12-17 10:04:58.710,3
2013-12-18 05:23:51.710,4
2013-12-17 22:58:50.710,5

That's a CSV file, you've got a spreadsheet (I think), but readtable doesn't really care. This line reads it into a table:

>> t = readtable('tmp4.dat')
t = 
            date_time            amplitude
    _________________________    _________
    '2013-12-16 11:21:51.110'    1        
    '2013-12-17 13:53:53.710'    2        
    '2013-12-17 10:04:58.710'    3        
    '2013-12-18 05:23:51.710'    4        
    '2013-12-17 22:58:50.710'    5

If you're using a version of MATLAB prior to R2014b, you can plot the amplitudes vs. time like this:

>> plot(datenum(t.date_time,'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS.FFF'),t.amplitude,'o')
>> datetick('x')

If you're using R2014b or later, I'd recommend this:

>> t.date_time = datetime(t.date_time,'Format','yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS')
t = 
           date_time           amplitude
    _______________________    _________
    2013-12-16 11:21:51.110    1        
    2013-12-17 13:53:53.710    2        
    2013-12-17 10:04:58.710    3        
    2013-12-18 05:23:51.710    4        
    2013-12-17 22:58:50.710    5        
>> plot(t.date_time,t.amplitude,'o')

That will make the plot I posted earlier.

Hope this helps.