% David E. Haddad
% 07/2008

% This script counts the number of lines in a text file.  It is designed
% to exclude blank lines or commented lines when doing the count.

% IMPORTANT NOTE:  This script will include the header in the line count if
% the input file has a header.

% here we go...

%  CHANGE THIS TO YOUR FILE'S NAME AND EXTENSION:
fid = fopen('input_filename.txt', 'r');

count = 0;

while ~feof(fid)
   line = fgetl(fid);
   if isempty(line) | strncmp(line, '%', 1)
       continue  % this statement advances the loop to the next line in the text file
                 % without counting blank lines or commented lines.
   end
   count = count + 1;
end

number_of_lines = count