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When I try to import data with ReadList from a file containing very small numbers (~10^-318), positive data is handled well, whereas negative data casts an error:

"General::digit: "Digit at position 1 in !(\"-5.5137726\") is too large to be used in base 10."

The actual number in the file is -5.5137726e-318. It works fine for positive numbers, or smaller exponents. I know Import handles well the data, but wanted to use ReadList since its ~10 times faster. I also tried truncating the data in the text file (in case it was a precission problem), to no avail.

Using Mathematica 9.0.1 with Windows 7 Home Premium.

EDIT

Here is a sample of the data; its a list of the components of a 3D vector:

   124000            0            0
   124000 -5.5137726e-318 4.9011312e-318
   124000 -6.0038857e-317 -8.1481306e-317
   124000 8.7730249e-316 -6.6839177e-316
   124000 7.2959464e-315 9.1491867e-315
   124000 -9.4449699e-314 7.9490222e-314
   124000 -8.6193193e-313 -9.6701831e-313
   124000 9.823401e-312 -9.2906591e-312
   124000 9.9467387e-311 9.9039764e-311
   124000 -9.9117558e-310 1.0571814e-309
   124000 -1.1151265e-308 -9.8472336e-309
   124000 9.7116423e-308 -1.1671959e-307
   124000 1.2122543e-306 9.5070421e-307
   124000 -9.2363979e-306 1.2493669e-305

I ran the processing code again, and it seems now that any numbers (positive or negative) smaller than 2e-318 ($MinMachineNumber) give the same error.

The Import command automatically truncates small numbers to 0:

{124000, 0, 0}, {124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, 
{124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 0., 0.}, 
{124000, 0., 0.}, {124000, 9.71164*10^-308, -1.1672*10^-307}, 
{124000, 1.21225*10^-306, 9.50704*10^-307},  {124000, -9.2364*10^-306, 1.24937*10^-305}

I was looking for an output in this way, but with ReadList.

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You can do the following:

data = ReadList["filename.ext", {Word, Word, Word}];

Then a little post processing:

ToExpression@StringReplace[#, {"e" -> "*^"}] & /@ data

Mathematica graphics

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, that works well. It performs faster than Import (65ms vs 145ms), although ReadList without postprocessing is still much faster (7ms). Is there a way to make mathematica read it as an arbitrary precision number, or to change $MinMachineNumber? $\endgroup$
    – Noel
    Mar 19, 2014 at 13:51
  • $\begingroup$ @NoelPerezGonzalez Well, there's no way to change $MinMachineNumber since it's based on your hardware. You will notice more speed up if your file is much larger, I think this is your best approach. $\endgroup$
    – RunnyKine
    Mar 19, 2014 at 13:55

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