exporting data in igor to excel

Share icon

Fri, 07/29/2011 - 01:25 am


Hi, all

I'm a really beginner for igor, so I'd like to ask you simple question. I hope you guys give me useful answer.
I tried to copy my data (numerical) to excel worksheet and it worked, but the problem was that it didn't work when I used a function such as "average". I set up the cell to number. I think there's sth different the way how the two softwares handle data. Excel may not regard the copied data as number.

One more thing, on igor, I cannot use simple statistics such as "average", "stdev", etc. ?

Thanks for your help.


Puhaha
Igor handles data in "waves", somewhat equivalent to vectors. Excel handles data in columns or rows. The two sometimes do not translate directly.

You might look at these code snippets for some examples of translating Excel to Igor Pro commands.

--
J. J. Weimer
Chemistry / Chemical & Materials Engineering, UAHuntsville

July 29, 2011 at 04:30 am - Permalink


Thank you so much ! It would be really usefull for me.
These codes are used to translate data from excel to igor, but what about from igor to excel ? Is it possible?

July 29, 2011 at 05:38 am - Permalink

If you want to export numerical data out of igor and into excel try creating a table in igor and then going to the main file menu and using save table copy. For this option to appear the table needs to be the active window. When you use this route you can choose what file format you want e.g. .txt (tab delimited) .csv (comma delimited) in the drop down save as list which comes up. Excel will read all of the options except .pxp.
As for for generating averages and stdev etc you will need to use the wavestats command. The command help gives a really good break down of how the syntax works, just look under help, command help and scroll down to wavestats.
Hope this helps,
;)

August 11, 2011 at 09:34 am - Permalink

Igor's tables are not spreadsheets. They are just one more way to display waves. The data itself exists on its own in memory; you can display wave in graphs, tables, etc.

I strongly recommend looking at the Getting Started help. You can get to it easily by selecting Help->Getting Started. Go through at least the first half of the Guided Tour (which is part of Getting Started). Igor works quite differently than other applications, and the Guided Tour will introduce you to some of the differences.

John Weeks
WaveMetrics, Inc.
support@wavemetrics.com

August 11, 2011 at 04:52 pm - Permalink