title: Data type cannot be converted in matlab or excel
body: <p>I recently copy and pasted some data from a database (USGS stream gauge data to be specific. I copy and pasted into excel, creating a column of my own for time. </p>
  
  <p>When I import the data into matlab, only the column I made shows up.</p>
  
  <pre><code>obs = xlsread('ObservedMR.xlsx','jun30For');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I tried to convert the values in excel to numbers, but to no avail. In excel, the numbers are left justified (which I know means that they are not being registered as numbers), but there are no other characters visible. </p>
  
  <p>When I create an empty matrix and try to copy and paste data in, I get an error reading that I cannot paste data that contains strings. </p>
  
  <p>Using the following,</p>
  
  <pre><code> p = readtable('ObservedMR.xlsx','Sheet','jun30For')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get </p>
  
  <pre><code>p = 
  
  x0       x0_31  
  ___    _________
  
    1    '0.31  ' 
    2    '0.31  ' 
    3    '0.31  ' 
    4    '0.31  ' 
    5    '0.31  ' 
    6    '0.31  ' 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I got error messages trying to use str2num (requires string or character input) and table2array.(types double and cell). </p>
  
  <p>I was going to try to use </p>
  
  <pre><code>regexprep(p, ''' , '')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>to replace the quotes, but I am getting messages about the single quotes being unclosed.  </p>
  
  <p>Does anyone know how I can use this data, by writing a code to edit out the quotes and spaces, import another way, convert it some way, etc?</p>
  
  <p>Thank you! </p>