text file columns assistance

i have a text file with data such as

a1     10
a2     6
etc.

when i use:

function A = ImportData() %ImportData function
     FileName =  uigetfile('*.txt','Select the MATLAB code file')
assignin('base','A',importdata(FileName))

to import the file, it imports everything under A then if i try to assign a1=A(1,2) it is returning a1 10 instead of just 10. if i use uiimport it wont seperate the columns either. how do i structure the txt file into columns?

Answer 1

[per isakson]

Strange!

1. I don't think ImportData is an appropriate name. It is too close to importdata.
2. The output argument, A, is not assigned a value in the function.

I would expect importdata to return a structure in this case.

    >> a=importdata('cssm.txt' )
    a = 
              data: [2x1 double]
          textdata: {2x1 cell}
        rowheaders: {2x1 cell}

    >> a.data
    ans =
        10
         6
    >> a.textdata
    ans = 
        'a1'
        'a2'
    >> a.rowheaders
    ans = 
        'a1'
        'a2'

where cssm.txt contains

    a1     10
    a2     6

with space between the columns.

I guess that there is a delimiter between the columns (column separator), which is not recognized by importdata.

See the help:

    A = importdata( filename, delimiter )

.

You write "... a1=A(1,2) it is returning a1 10 ...". What does

    double( a1 )

return?