How to skip the first line of a text file when reading it?

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I have a file like this:
  1. DQ20091222000002.txt
  2. 2009-12-22 00:00:02--2009-12-23 00:00:12
  3. 3.4814
  4. 3.4814
  5. 3.4766
  6. 3.4814
I do not need the first two lines. How to skip them? By the way, the number list is extra, not included in my file.
  1 Comment
Harsimran Singh
Harsimran Singh on 3 May 2021
use this link, it works perfectly for me:
Option Explicit
Sub FixCsvFiles()
Dim SelectFolder As String
Dim csvFiles As Variant
Dim csvWb As Workbook
Dim x As Integer
'browse for folder with csv files
On Error GoTo FixCsvFiles_Error
SelectFolder = GetFolder("c:\")
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'Check user did not cancel folder selection
If SelectFolder = "" Then
MsgBox "No Folder Selected - Cannot continue", vbCritical
End
End If
SelectFolder = SelectFolder & "\"
csvFiles = Dir(SelectFolder & "*.csv")
Do While csvFiles <> ""
Set csvWb = Workbooks.Open(SelectFolder & csvFiles)
Rows("1:2").Delete
x = x + 1
csvWb.Close True
csvFiles = Dir
Loop
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
MsgBox "A total of " & CStr(x) & " files processed", vbInformation
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Sub
FixCsvFiles_Error:
MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & " (" & Err.Description & ") in procedure FixCsvFiles of Module2"
End Sub
Function GetFolder(strPath As String) As String
Dim fldr As FileDialog
Dim sItem As String
Set fldr = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFolderPicker)
With fldr
.Title = "BROWSE TO FOLDER LOCATION WITH CSV FILES"
.AllowMultiSelect = False
.InitialFileName = strPath
If .Show <> -1 Then GoTo NextCode
sItem = .SelectedItems(1)
End With
NextCode:
GetFolder = sItem
Set fldr = Nothing
End Function

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Answers (6)

Matt Tearle
Matt Tearle on 8 Jun 2011
Given how simple your file contents are, I'd use dlmread:
M = dlmread('filename.txt', ' ', 2, 0)
The last two arguments tell it to skip 2 rows (and no columns).
  4 Comments
Matt Tearle
Matt Tearle on 10 Jun 2011
Sorry, can't reproduce the problem. Perhaps some funky non-printing characters lurking in your file? One way to check for that is to do
foo = fileread('filename.txt');
then look at the values of double(foo). Values of 10 and/or 13 represent line breaks. Numbers should use characters 48-57 ('0'-'9') and 46 ('.') -- anything else would indicate a nonvalid number.
Is it always the last value? That is, what happens if you add a new value at the end of the file? Or insert a new value in the middle? That might help determine if it's the position or the specific value that happens to be at the end of your file.

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Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 8 Jun 2011
The exact method will depend on which reading routine you are using. textscan() offers a HeaderLines option; some of the other routines offer similar options.
  2 Comments
Jimmy
Jimmy on 8 Jun 2011
Could you show me how to use the textscan routine and the HeaderLines option for my case?
Walter Roberson
Walter Roberson on 8 Jun 2011
Edited: per isakson on 26 Jan 2017
fid = fopen('DQ20091222000002.txt','rt');
indata = textscan(fid, '%f', 'HeaderLines',2);
fclose(fid);
yourdata = indata{1};

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Sean de Wolski
Sean de Wolski on 8 Jun 2011
X = dlmread('ans68.txt','',2); %ans68.txt is your file.
doc dlmread
for more info

Abhishek Shahi
Abhishek Shahi on 1 Jul 2018
Edited: Walter Roberson on 2 Jul 2018
temp=importdata('abc.dat');
abc=temp.data;
clear temp;

Parvez Akhtar
Parvez Akhtar on 10 May 2019
Edited: Parvez Akhtar on 10 May 2019
Can anyone please help me out to skip lines from the end of the matrix data files as shown in below lines.
1. 23 45
2. 65 56
3. 64 87
4. 67 47
5. some additional comments at the end of the matrix.
In this data, we know the exact number of the last line, but for the bigger one, it is not easy to identify it. How can omit it while we are running the next read command?

Image Analyst
Image Analyst on 4 Feb 2023
allLines = readlines('ab.txt') % Gets every line into a cell.
% Skip first two lines
allLines = allLines(3:end) % Take only lines 3 and downward.

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