Read all text files in folder (nonsequential)

I need matlab to read all text files within a folder. The number typically are sequential; however, the limitation of the existing MATLAB script is that it doesn’t allow for non-consecutive numbered tests, beginning only at xxxx001.dat to be processed. I would like all .dat files contained within a specific folder to be processed at the same time.

RT_number=1917; t1start=tic; warning off MATLAB:xlswrite:AddSheet;

for i=1:999 tic; if i>=1 && i<=9

zero='00';

end

if i>=10 && i<=99

zero='0';

end

if i>=100 && i<=999

zero='';

end

filename=[int2str(RT_number) zero int2str(i) '.dat'];

end

fid=fopen(filename);

Answer 1

[Kelly Kearney]

F = dir('*.dat');
for ii = 1:length(F)
   fid = fopen(F(ii).name);
end

By the way, if they are sequential, a cleaner way to get the file names:

RT_number=1917;
for ii = 1:999
   filename = sprintf('%d%02d.dat', RT_number, ii);
   fid = fopen(filename);
end

[Kelly Kearney]

I suggest reading the help for dir. In this case, F(ii).name holds the same string as filename in your original example, i.e. the name of the file. You could add an extra line:

filename = F(ii).name;

but it's unnecessary (I'd only do that if you have a lot of code that already refers to the filename variable.)

[Russell]

Can you please explain what you did? I have a very basic understanding of Matlab

Answer 2

[Mahdi]

Based on what you said, if you have all the files in the same folder, you can open the folder in MATLAB and use dir to list all the folder contents (With other options if you want, or even tell dir which folder to list the contents for). Similarly, you can use ls.

You can then use a loop to open up these files, for example (assuming you're in the folder already)

filelist=ls;
[m, n] size(filelist);
for i=1:m
fid=fopen(filename(i,1:end))
end

You can do the same thing dir, but you would need to use filelist(i).name

[Russell]

I need matlab to convert the data into an excel file. That is why I want it to open the files in the folder. It will be creating an excel sheet for each file.