Opening and Reading an Excel File in Octave

To open an Excel file in Octave, you need to load the "io" module into memory.

Start by typing the command pkg load io into the command window.

>> pkg load io

This command loads a set of additional commands and instructions for handling data from Excel files into memory.

Note. If the "io" module is not present in Octave, you'll need to install it first. Type the command "pkg install -forge io" on the command line, making sure you have an internet connection.

Here's a practical example.

The Excel file you want to work with must already be located on your PC in Octave's working folder.

For this example, I used a spreadsheet called "test.xlsx" that has three tabs inside it (Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3).

To read data contained in a cell of an Excel sheet, use the xlsread() command.

In the command window, type xlsread('test.xlsx','Sheet1','A2') to read the data in cell A2 of Sheet1.

>> xlsread('test.xlsx','Sheet1','A2')

The command will read and return the value contained in cell A2, which in this case is the numeric value 4.

The command will also display the result in the command window as "ans = 4".

ans = 4

If you want to read data in a range of cells, type the range instead of the cell.

To better manage your data, save it in an array variable.

For example, to read the range of cells from A1 to C1, type v=xlsread('test.xlsx','Sheet1','A1:C1')

>> v=xlsread('test.xlsx','Sheet1','A1:C1')

The command will read the data contained in the range of cells A1:C1 and write it into the array variable "v".

Type "v" in the command window to display the contents of the variable.

>> v
v=
1 2 3

You can also access individual elements of the array by indicating the position in parentheses.

For example, type v(1) to access the first element of the array.

>> v(1)
ans = 1

Type v(2) to access the second element.

>> v(2)
ans = 2

These commands make it easy to read and manipulate data from Excel sheets in Octave.