Read out string dataset from matlab file in python

When working with the NYUv2 dataset in python I try to get a list of all 894 classes in the dataset. From the documentation I know that its listed in the names variable of the nyu_depth_v2_labeled.mat-file. I want to have an array with 894 strings of the names of the classes, but when trying approaches i found online i could not make it work.

Here is my code:

import numpy as np
import h5py

# Load the .mat file
mat_path = '/path/to/nyu_depth_v2_labeled.mat'
mat_file = h5py.File(mat_path, 'r')
# get variable 'names'
names = mat_file.get('names')
print(names)
print('-------------------------------')
print(names[:])

The problem now is that the result looks like this:

<HDF5 dataset "names": shape (1, 894), type "|O">
-------------------------------
[[<HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
...
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>
  <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference> <HDF5 object reference>]]

How do i make the data "readable" as python strings?

Solution

My search revealed that pymatreader is available at PyPI which is

Convenient reader for Matlab mat files

After you install it, you should be able to do

from pymatreader import read_mat

data = read_mat('/path/to/nyu_depth_v2_labeled.mat')

which should then result in

data is a python dict containing all variables of the mat file.

I do not have ability to test it, so please test it and write if it does what you need to do.