How to import blanks cells as Nans

I have a file (created in excel) with >100k rows and 22 columns. Many of the cells are blanks (not zeros). If I use csvread to import the data Matlab changes the banks to zeros. I cannot first change the blanks to 99999 because excel crashes. Is there a way to make Matlab import the blanks as Nan's?

Answer 1

[Mohammad Abouali]

use importdata():

a=importdata('sampledata.csv')

a =

       1     2     3     4     5
       1     2     3   NaN     5
       1   NaN     3     4     5
       1     2     3   NaN     5
       1     2     3     4     5
       1     2     3     4   NaN

[Cristina]

perfect. thank you.

[Mohammad Abouali]

you are welcome

[Ahmed Nirjhar Alam]

Is there any equivalent substitute for when I have a file with multiple datatypes(such as integers, doubles, strings) in different columns?

Answer 2

[Stephen23]

Here is a list of some functions that can import blank/missing data as NaN:

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/textscan.html

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/importdata.html

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/readtable.html

and you can find comprehensive lists of all file reading functions in the documentation:

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/import_export/supported-file-formats.html

[Cristina]

thank you!