How do I open files from different subfolders?

Hi All,

A part of my script is openning files to read. My code works as long as files are in the same directory as my m file. My files are stored in several different subfolders. Is there any function that would tell matlab to search for files in all subfolders or do I have to define directory every time? All file names that I want to open are different.

Thank you very much for your help!

Jo

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

If you know the folder names you can use fullfile.

fullFileName = fullfile(folder, 'foo.txt');

If you want the user to select the file, you can do:

% Have user browse for a file, from a specified "starting folder."
% For convenience in browsing, set a starting folder from which to browse.
startingFolder = pwd;  % or 'C:\wherever';
if ~isfolder(startingFolder)
    % If that folder doesn't exist, just start in the current folder.
    startingFolder = pwd;
end
% Get the name of the file that the user wants to use.
defaultFileName = fullfile(startingFolder, '*.*');
[baseFileName, folder] = uigetfile(defaultFileName, 'Select a file');
if baseFileName == 0
    % User clicked the Cancel button.
    return;
end
fullFileName = fullfile(folder, baseFileName)

Answer 2

[Rik]

There is presumably some structure or pattern to your files. You should use the dir function and make use of that pattern. The dir function will return a struct array you can use to loop through all files.

You can use a wildcard * to match partial or full file or folder names, and you can even use to indicate a recursive search.