PicoScope 7 Software
Available on Windows, Mac and Linux
mat file format
Section 6 of the PicoScope manual decribes the file format. Here is a brief summary:
The header
The file consists of a number of data blocks preceded by 20-byte headers. Each header contains five 32-bit integers (as described in the table below).
Bytes Value
0 – 3 Data format (0, 10 or 20)
4 – 7 Number of values
8 – 11 1
12 – 15 0
16 – 19 Name length
Data format
The ‘Data format’ in the first 4-bytes describes the type of numerical data in the array.
Value Description
0 Double (64-bit floating point)
10 Single (32-bit floating point)
20 Integer (32-bit)
Number of values
The ‘Number of values’ is a 32-bit integer describing the number of numerical values in the array. This value may be 1 for variables that only describe one value; but for arrays of samples or times, expect this to be a large number.
Name length
The ‘Name length’ is the length of the name of the variable as a null-terminated 1-byte per character ASCII string. The last null terminating character (‘\0’) is included in the ‘Name length’ so if the variable name is “TStartâ€
The header
The file consists of a number of data blocks preceded by 20-byte headers. Each header contains five 32-bit integers (as described in the table below).
Bytes Value
0 – 3 Data format (0, 10 or 20)
4 – 7 Number of values
8 – 11 1
12 – 15 0
16 – 19 Name length
Data format
The ‘Data format’ in the first 4-bytes describes the type of numerical data in the array.
Value Description
0 Double (64-bit floating point)
10 Single (32-bit floating point)
20 Integer (32-bit)
Number of values
The ‘Number of values’ is a 32-bit integer describing the number of numerical values in the array. This value may be 1 for variables that only describe one value; but for arrays of samples or times, expect this to be a large number.
Name length
The ‘Name length’ is the length of the name of the variable as a null-terminated 1-byte per character ASCII string. The last null terminating character (‘\0’) is included in the ‘Name length’ so if the variable name is “TStartâ€
Regards
Mark
Mark