pymatreader

library1.2.3pypypi✓ verified 86d ago

A convenient reader for MATLAB .mat files, handling various data types and structures. Current version 1.2.2, requires Python ≥3.10. Regular updates.

data serialization

pip install pymatreader

package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · PYMATREADER

pymatreader

datapythonv1.2.3

Install

7.8s avg

Import

1106ms

Disk

246MB

Pass rate

9/ 10

Env Coverage9 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v1.2.3 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

glibc

py 3.10

✓ —

✓ 7.5s

py 3.11

✓ —

✓ 7.6s

py 3.12

✓ —

✓ 7.8s

py 3.13

✓ —

✓ 7.6s

py 3.9

✕ build_error

✓ 8.4s

246MB installed

● package 246MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

read_mat

✓ from pymatreader import read_mat

Correct usage.

Basic usage to read a .mat file and access its variables.

from pymatreader import read_mat import os # Read a MATLAB .mat file data = read_mat('example.mat') # Access variables by name # data.variable_name print(data.keys())

Debug

Known issues

gotchaBy default, pymatreader returns variables as attributes of a simple namespace object. If you expect a dict, use `ignore_fields=False` or access via `data['varname']`.

fix

Use `data['varname']` or set `ignore_fields=True` (default) to get attribute-style access.

affects: all

breakingpymatreader 1.0+ dropped support for Python 2 and Python <3.10. The API changed from returning dicts to returning a namespace object.

fix

Use `data = read_mat('file.mat').__dict__` to get a dict, or update code to use attribute access.

affects: >=1.0

deprecatedThe `matfile` function is deprecated in favor of `read_mat`.

fix

Replace `from pymatreader import matfile` with `from pymatreader import read_mat`.

affects: >=0.4

Errors

Common errors & fixes

AttributeError: 'Namespace' object has no attribute '...'

Accessing a variable by name that doesn't exist in the .mat file, or using wrong case.

fix

List available keys: `print(data.keys())` and then access the correct key.

ValueError: Unknown mat file type, version ...

File might be corrupted or unsupported format (e.g., MATLAB v4).

fix

Try opening with scipy.io.loadmat as fallback, or check file integrity.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'h5py'

Trying to read a v7.3 file without h5py installed.

fix

Install h5py: `pip install h5py`.

Upgrade

Version history

1.2.3latest on PyPI · released May 4, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

h5pyrequiredRequired for reading MATLAB v7.3 files (HDF5 format)

scipyrequiredUsed as fallback for older .mat files

Agent activity

11 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/pymatreader/ ↗