how to fix xlsread error on octave on ubuntu

Question

I am trying to read a simple xls file with xlsread in octave. Its csv version is shown below:

2,4,6
8,10,12
14,16,18
20,22,24

I have run the following commands in octave:

# the next commands are to select the file through a gui.
# it reports a warning, but selects the filename correctly
>> pkg load io
>> fprintf('Select the training data file ... \n');
Select the training data file ...
>> filename = uigetfile({'*.xls'; '*.xlsx'}, 'File Selector');
Gtk-Message: 14:37:32.971: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
>> printf('file name %s\n', filename);
file name x1.xls

# now I am trying to read the xls, and I get an error:
>> [~, ~, RAW] = xlsread(filename);
Detected XLS interfaces: None.
warning: xlsopen.m: no '.xls' spreadsheet I/O support with available interfaces.
warning: xlsread: some elements in list of return values are undefined
warning: called from
    xlsread at line 268 column 1

I am using octave-4.2.2 on ubuntu-18.04 LTS. What is the reason for this error? Is there any other package that I need to install? How do I fix this problem?

Answer 1

octave支持xlsx，不支持xls。