function [timeseries,years,seriesnames] = rwl2mat(filename)

% RWL2MAT  Read Tucson formatted raw ring width measurements into Matlab
%       
%    [timeseries,years,seriesnames] = rwl2mat(filename)
%
% 

% Open existing file in text mode
fid=fopen(filename,'rt');
headerlines = 0;

% read in data
[data]=textscan(fid,'%8s%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%*s','TreatAsEmpty',' ','EmptyValue',NaN); 


% what if there is a header? 
while isempty(data{2}) || isempty(data{3})
 headerlines = headerlines + 1;
 [data]=textscan(fid,'%8s%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%f%*s','Headerlines',headerlines,'EmptyValue',NaN);  
end

datamatrix = [data{3} data{4} data{5} data{6} data{7} data{8} data{9} data{10} data{11} data{12}];
decades = data{2}; [cbR,cbC] = find(datamatrix==999 | datamatrix == -9999);

cbRx = find(decades(cbR)==max(decades));
minimumYear = min(decades);
latestCore = max(sum(~isnan(datamatrix(cbR(cbRx),:)),2));
maximumYear = max(decades) + latestCore;


years = [minimumYear:maximumYear]';
timeseries = NaN(length(years),length(cbR));
cbR = sort([cbR]); seriesnames = data{1}(cbR);

% append a zero so we can loop over the series
cbR = sort([0; cbR]);

% now, read each individual into a timeseries matrix
for i=1:length(cbR)-1;
  thisStartYear = find(years==decades(cbR(i)+1));
  thisCore = datamatrix(cbR(i)+1:cbR(i+1),:)'; thisCore=thisCore(:); thisCore = thisCore(~isnan(thisCore) & (thisCore~=999 & thisCore ~= -9999));
  timeseries(thisStartYear:thisStartYear+length(thisCore)-1,i) = thisCore;
end

fclose(fid);