Here is a solution that doesn't require the Statistical toolbox. Separators: # list separator: space # thousand separator: comma # traling: % Approach: # read the first line (header) to a separate variable. # read the rest of the file to a string buffer # remove "," and "%" from the string buffer # read the string buffer with textscan # convert the cell array of double vectors to a double array [ hdr, M ] = Read_text_file(); The whole numbers in the file have been converted to "flints" (see ). The mean of the "rows", for which Event==638, can be calculated with logical indexing. mean( M( M(:,1)==638, : ), 1 ) With "flint" it is safe to use "==". With floating point numbers one need to allow for rounding errors mean( M( abs(M(:,5)-0.0024558) < epsilon, : ), 1 ) where epsilon is some appropriate small number. --- Attachment --- function [ hdr, M ] = Read_text_file() fid = fopen( 'Read_text_file.txt', 'r' ); hdr = fgetl( fid ); str = fread( fid, '*char' ); sts = fclose( fid ); %#ok str( str == ',' ) = []; str( str == '%' ) = []; cac = textscan( str, '%f%f%f%f%f' ); M = [ cac{:} ]; end