When a data file contains some header lines before the actual data matrix, octave's dlmread function can be used to read the matrix of data and ignore the headers.
For example,
$cat input_data.m
col1 col2 col3
1, 2, 3
4, 5, 6
7, 8, 9
10, 11, 12
This file contains one header line and a 4x3 data matrix. To read it into octave, create a script called
$cat read_data.m
1;
A = dlmread("input_data.m", SEP=',', R0=1, C0=0);
A
$octave3.2 -qf
octave3.2:1> read_data
A =
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12
For more information on dlmread function, use 'help dlmread' inside octave.
Tested using octave 3.2.4-3 on Debian stable (Lenny).
