Using textscan ================== fid = fopen(fname,'r'); C1=textscan(fid,'%s'); C1 = C1{1};// convert cell array to string fclose(fid); Convert cell array into set of string ============================ C1 = C1{1};// convert cell array to string Using textread ============= 1. READING FILES WITH DIFF FORMAT OF DATA INTO CELL ARRAY data = textread(fNamePPM,'%s','delimiter','\n','whitespace','\t'); 2. CONSIDER EACH LINE IN CELL ARRAY myrow = sscanf(data{i} ,'%f\t%f\t%f\t%f' ); 3. ACCESS ENTRY OF A CELL ARRAY if celarr{i}(j) =='>' end