Why is numeric data written as character data when using the MLPutMatrix command via Excel Link?

To replicate this problem, create an Excel sheet with the following data:

          A           B

   1      c    12345678901234567890

   2

Use MLPutMatrix command to put the data in cells A1:B1 into MATLAB as follows:

      MLPutMatrix("a", "A1:B1")

The resulting variable a in MATLAB has the following format:

 a =

      'c'    [1x20 char]

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This is an expected behavior. If the data being passed has any non-numeric element in it (except +, -, e or E), the entire data will be converted to a cell array of characters within MATLAB.

Once the data is passed to MATLAB, use the STR2NUM function in MATLAB to convert the required data to numeric format or to make sure all data passed via MLPutMatrix is numeric.