Re: [Matplotlib-users] load function

[Stephen W. <ste...@cs...>]

I don't think the load function needs to be changed in the way you 
suggest.  The "problem" is not the load function.  It is the fact that 
numarray arrays are stored in row-major, not column-major, order, and so 
tuple unpacking a numarray array goes by row, not by column.

In [15]: A=arange(6)

In [16]: A.shape=(3,2)

In [17]: x,y=A
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
exceptions.ValueError                                Traceback (most 
recent call last)

ValueError: too many values to unpack

The transpose is required here as well if you want to unpack by 
columns.  If I have a file containing 731 rows and 17 columns and use 
'load', I get an array with 731 rows and 17 columns, exactly as I expect.

I'm far from a Python expert myself ;-), but you can do what you're 
trying with the single line

x,y=transpose(load('toto.dat')[:,1:3])

(note that array indexing in Python is zero-based, not one-based, and 
also read up on how slices work).