Datenum date conversion troubles

I have a matlab file of timestamps called d that looks like this...

       '7/31/2012 2:35:00 PM'
       '7/31/2012 2:36:00 PM'
       '7/31/2012 2:37:00 PM'
        '7/31/2012 2:38:00 PM'
        '7/31/2012 2:39:00 PM'
        '7/31/2012 2:40:00 PM'

and I am trying to put these timestamps into matlab so I can graph the data. so I have tried

CR100.time = datenum(d(:,1),'mm/dd/yyyy HH:MM:SS Ww')

But I am getting the response...

??? Error using ==> datenum at 182 DATENUM failed.

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

Any clue how to import these timestamps?

Also do you know how I can save an excel file in a matlab script.

[the cyclist]

Is d a cell array of strings?

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

I suspect it is the 'Ww' that is tripping you up. Try

datenum(d,'mm/dd/yyyy HH:MM:SS PM')

Answer 2

[Thomas]

Just try something like:

str={'7/31/2012 2:35:00 PM'
'7/31/2012 2:36:00 PM'
'7/31/2012 2:37:00 PM'
'7/31/2012 2:38:00 PM'
'7/31/2012 2:39:00 PM'
'7/31/2012 2:40:00 PM'}
date_time=datenum(str)

Answer 3

[Aaron]

I just tried that and I get

??? Error using ==> datenum at 182 DATENUM failed.

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

[the cyclist]

This would have been better placed as a comment after one of the answers here (which one?) than as an answer. What is the data type of d? It matters for the answer. My solution works for the entries in the list you gave. Do you have mixed types in your data?

[Aaron]

sorry. d is a data structure of the type {} in the matlab workspace. It is only one column with many rows filled with strings like the ones posted previously.

[the cyclist]

My advice would be to use my code on subset of d [such as d(1:5), then d(6:10), etc] until you can identify some entries of d that are causing the problem.