Use dates from Excel in Matlab

Question

I am creating a utility which will give the user a prompt and ask for their crn #, section #, and teacher last name. Once entered the user will receive their exam time, date, and location. I am having an issue with my excel spreadsheet and using a mac os. the script works to completion though the date shows up as just a (.) rather than something like (01/01/0001)

here is the code

here is the spreadsheet to make code work; https://www.dropbox.com/s/drwmk1dinbfwfvl/DrexelFinalsWinter13.xlsx?m

close all;

%% I created an Excel file to hold the information located on Drexel's 
%% website witch contains exam times and locations based on certain criteria
%% First I have to make code to read the excel file created
clc
[ndata, text, alldata]=xlsread('DrexelFinalsWinter13.xlsx');
%% Next we will prompt the user for specific data by creating a dialog box 
%% using the prompt command.
clc
prompt={'Your CRN #','Your Section #',...
    ' Your Instructors Name' };
numlines=1;
defaultanswer={'22081','001','Hawkins'};
name='Enter Info';
options.Resize='on';
options.WindowStyle='normal';
options.Interpreter='tex';
answer=inputdlg(prompt,name,numlines,defaultanswer); %prompt user for data

 a1=cell2mat(answer(1));c1=str2double(a1); %converting cell info to numeric
 a2=cell2mat(answer(2));c2=str2double(a2); %converting cell info to numeric
 w=0;



for p=1:1032;
if (isequal(c1,cell2mat(alldata(p,1))) && ...
        (or(isequal(c2,cell2mat(alldata(p,4))),...
        isequal(answer(2),alldata(p,4)))) && ...
        isequal(answer(3),alldata(p,6))); % the if condition looks to see if
                                          % our input matches any data in the table
   % we cant use cell data below for comoarison so I had to
   % convert it to matlab common data like num or double
   % for numbers because the xlsread function cant
   % distinguish them and only know strings
    w = w+1;
    date = cell2mat(alldata(p,7));
    time = cell2mat(alldata(p,8));
    loca = cell2mat(alldata(p,9)); 
   fprintf('Your exam date is %s. \n',date); % print date results
   fprintf('Your exam time is %s. \n',time);  % print time results
   fprintf('Your exam location is %s. \n',loca); % print location results
   disp('Good luck with your exams! Sleep well & eat a healthy breakfast!'); % just for kicks
elseif p==1032 && w==0   %if we didnt find any matches from our prompt
    'You have provided wrong data or no exam is scheduled for your class.';
end
 end
% The outputs are then located in the command line like below
% answer to the defult values
% Your exam date is 3/19/2013. 
% Your exam time is 0800-1000. 
% Your exam location is See Department. 
% Good luck with your exams! Sleep well & eat a healthy breakfast!

what is the value of date just before fprintf('Your exam date is %s. \n',date); ? Please check with the debugger — Dan
– Dan, Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 14:53
in the variables window after I just do the command date = cell2mat(alldata(p,7)); it shows it as just a number like 413566 and not the date. it's an issue with the excel spreadsheet — Chris
– Chris, Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 14:58
So you need to convert that number to a date string before fprintf will display a date. Excel uses its own funny date convention too so I doubt datenum etc in matlab will solve it but I'm sure you can find online an algorithm for converting excel dates to strings. — Dan
– Dan, Commented Mar 6, 2013 at 15:01

Dan · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-06 15:17:20Z

2

Try this:

fprintf('Your exam date is %s. \n',datestr(x2mdate(date))); % print date results

Have a look at the x2mdate docs if you have the financial toolbox otherwise you can do this:

fprintf('Your exam date is %s. \n',datestr(date + datenum('30DEC1899')));

(from here)

edited Mar 6, 2013 at 15:17

answered Mar 6, 2013 at 15:06

Dan

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3 Comments

Sam Roberts Over a year ago

That's great if the OP has Financial Toolbox.

Chris Over a year ago

I do not have financial toolbox unfortunately. The second solution fixed my issue though, Thank You!

Dan Over a year ago

Not a problem, please do mark it as solved then by clicked the outline of the tick to the left of this answer.

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