Loading a file into a numpy array with python

Question

So I\'m very green with Python and am trying to learn by replicating some matlab code I\'ve written. I have a part where, in matlab, I load a data file that\'s tab-delimited

Answer 1

If you're using Python for MATLAB-like purposes you're going to want to be using NumPy (and scipy); in particular, you should read NumPy for MATLAB Users.

If you have comma-delimited data, you can use numpy.loadtxt to read it (after installing numpy, of course):

$ cat matrix.csv 
1,2,3
4,5,6
7,8,9

and then

>>> import numpy as np
>>> m = np.loadtxt("matrix.csv", delimiter=",")
>>> m
array([[ 1.,  2.,  3.],
       [ 4.,  5.,  6.],
       [ 7.,  8.,  9.]])
>>> np.matrix(m)
matrix([[ 1.,  2.,  3.],
        [ 4.,  5.,  6.],
        [ 7.,  8.,  9.]])