Why does IMPORTDATA in MATLAB 7.0 (R14) fail when used with a file that has an extra tab in the header?

I would like to use IMPORTDATA to read a file that has an extra tab at the end of the header line. However, my command results in the following error:

 ??? Error using ==> load 

 Unable to read MAT-file D:\MATLAB7\work\cell1431ala0_5min.txt: not a binary MAT-file. 

 Try LOAD -ASCII to read as text. 

 Unable to load file. 

 Use TEXTSCAN or FREAD for more complex formats.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This problem has been fixed in MATLAB 7.0.1 (R14SP1). If you are using MATLAB 7.0 (R14), you will not be able to use IMPORTDATA on your file. As a workaround, use TEXTSCAN or FREAD.