load data file with header lines in octave

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).