function [yr,ti]=pooldata(datafile)
% this is matlab code (~octave) i wrote myself for everyone to use and transform table data into graphics data
% according to the following procedure and context:
%
% reads data from datafile (.txt file) containing a formatted "ctrl+c" copy from wikipedia "record progression" table style
% as found e.g. in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_record_progression_100_metres_freestyle
% each line in datafile should be similar to this one:
% 1 	 53.46  		Almsick , Franziska van Franziska van Almsick 	 Germany 	01993-01-06 6 January 1993 	World Cup 	China, Shanghai ?  People's Republic of China Shanghai, China 	
% (the '%' sign at the beginning of the line is for matlab remark purposes, should not be on actual .txt file)
% copy the whole table (men long course, short, women long, short) and separate each subtable with a blank line
% 
% if you simply do a ctrl+c copy from the table itself on the wiki page and ctrl+v into notepad, you should 
% hit nearly this format. sometimes you may get a double line for a single entry: to make it a single line,
% just backspace once at the beginning of the second line

%lstyle is a string with color and linestyle data for the plot command (see matlab specs)

% sample call:
% pooldata('WRP100mbreaststroke.txt');

% feel free to modify, copy, redistribute this code without any reference to its author, provided you make 
% some job in transforming wiki table data into graphic data


lstyle={'.-b','.:b','.-r','.:r'};

fid=fopen(datafile,'rt');
ee=1;
ct=1;
ctype=1;
while ee
   a=fgetl(fid);
   ischar(a)
   if ischar(a)
      if ~isempty(a)
	      %warning: the following takes out ':' from string data if time is equal or more than 1'
   	   %this is valid only for the specific format
      	tt=str2num(strrep(a(6:14),':',''));
      	%tt=str2num(strrep(a(1:7),':','')); % use this alternate formula depending on where the time "column" is found on the table
      	tt=floor(tt/100)*60+mod(tt,100);%works out actual seconds
            
      	ti(ct)=tt;%stores time for this entry
      	ii=findstr(a,'-');yr(ct)=str2num(a(ii(1)-4:ii(1)-1));%looks for a year data marker on the string and stores the year (see how this is coded on the .txt file)
	  	   %ii=findstr(a,',');yr(ct)=str2num(a(ii(1)+2:ii(1)+5));%alternate formula depending on how the data is coded (see how this is coded on the .txt file)
      	ct=ct+1;
   	else
         lll=a;
         plot(yr,ti,lstyle{ctype},'linewidth',2)
         hold on
         ctype=ctype+1;ct=1;
         clear yr ti
   	end
   else
      ee=0;
      plot(yr,ti,lstyle{ctype},'linewidth',2)
   end
end

fclose(fid);
grid on
hold on
axis([1900 2015 90 200])
set(gca,'ytick',[90:2:200])
set(gca,'xtick',[1900:5:2015])
set(gca,'YTickLabel',{'90','','','','','100','','','','','110','','','','','(2min)=120','','','','','130','','','','','140','','','','','150','','','','','160','','','','','170','','','','','(3min)=180','','','','','190','','','','','200'})
set(gca,'XTickLabel',{'1900','','1910','','1920','','1930','','1940','','1950','','1960','','1970','','1980','','1990','','2000','','2010',''})

%add these last lines when you're done 
title(datafile(1:end-4))
ylabel('time [s]')
xlabel('year')
%legend('Men long course','Men short course','Women long course','Women short course') %legend depends on the data you put (of course)