function signal = readref (filename, linestoignore)
% signal = readref(filename [, linestoignore])
% Reads the ref file passed in and returns the signal; linestoignore
% defaults to 10, but can be custom set.
   if nargin < 2, linestoignore = 10; end
   if nargin < 1, error('No filename given to readref().'); end
   if ~exist(filename, 'file'), error([filename ' is not a file.']); end
   try
       fid = fopen(filename);

       ignore = textscan(fid, '%s', linestoignore, 'delimiter', '\n'); 

       [ data ]  = textscan(fid,'%n');

       signal = data{1};
   catch e
       fclose(fid);
       rethrow(e);
   end
   fclose(fid);
end