string - MATLAB vs. GNU Octave Textscan disparity -

i wish read data .dat file without saving file first. in order so, code looks follows:

urlsearch= 'http://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?utf8=&object_id=2005+pm'; url= 'http://minorplanetcenter.net/tmp/2005_pm.dat';  urlmidstep=urlread(urlsearch); urldata=urlread(url);  received= textscan(urldata , '%5s %7s %1s %1s %1s %17s %12s %12s %9s %6s %6s %3s ' ,'delimiter', '', 'whitespace', ''); data_received = received{:} 

urlmidstep's function "search", in order able create temporary .dat file. data stored in urldata, long char array. when use textscan in matlab, 12 columns desired, stored in cell array data_received.

however, in octave various warning messages: warning: strread: field width '%5s' (fmt spec # 1) extends beyond actual word limit (for various field widths). question is, why result different in octave , how fix this? shouldn't octave behave same matlab, in theory differences should dealt bugs?

surely specifying width of strings , leaving both delimiter , whitespace input arguments empty should tell function deal width of string, allowing spaces valid characters.

any appreciated.

i thinhk textscan works differently in matlab , octave. illustrate let's simplify example. code:

test_line = 'k05p00m  c2003 01 28.38344309 37 57.87 +11 05 14.9                n~1hzv645'; test = textscan(test_line,'%5s','delimiter',''); test{:} 

will yield following in matlab:

>> test{:}  ans =       'k05p0'     '0m  c'     '2003 '     '01 28'     '.3834'     '4309 '     '37 57'     '.87 +'     '11 05'     '14.9 '     'n~1hz'     'v645' 

whereas in octave, get:

>> test{:} ans = {   [1,1] = k05p0   [2,1] = c2003   [3,1] = 01   [4,1] = 28.38   [5,1] = 37   [6,1] = 57.87   [7,1] = +11   [8,1] = 05   [9,1] = 14.9   [10,1] = n~1hz } 

so looks octave jumps next word , discards remaining character in current word, whereas matlab treats whole string 1 continuous word.

why , 1 correct, not know, it'll point in right direction understanding going on. can try adding delimiter see how affects results.