Converting cell components into strings for moving files

I am working on a code that helps me move files that i choose from one directory to another . The code that i have is as follows.

[filename, pathname,filterindex] = uigetfile('*.m', 'Select the Matlab files to move', 'MultiSelect', 'on')
source = strcat(pathname, filename)
destination = uigetdir
opt_choose = inputdlg('What do you want to do:/n 1. Move all files or 2. Move one file',...
  'Specify your interest in the function', [1,30])
option = str2num(opt_choose{:});
if option < 1||option >2 
  %This is to make sure that the input is only 1 or 2. 
  errordlg('This is not an option. You have only 2 more attempts')
end
if option ==1 
  movefile(source,destination)    
end

The error that i get is as follows :

Error using movefile Argument must contain a string.

Error in move_it (line 13) movefile(source,destination)

I believe it is because the files that i am selecting, which are multiple files, are being stored as cell components. When i check for the value of source in the workspace, it is as follows,

source = 'abcd. m' 'xyzd.m'

How could i change this to a string so that i could pass it into the if function as a source so that it wont give me an error.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

[Nobel Mondal]

Replace the line calling 'movefile' by a cell-function. Like this -

 cellfun(@(C) movefile(C, destination), source)

[Sanwal Yousaf]

just to clarify. What is C representing in this function? is that the source or something else?

[Sanwal Yousaf]

Never mind. Apologies. This works like a charm. Thanks a lot.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

movefile() accepts only the name of one file (or directory) at a time. If you have multiple files then you will need to movefile() them one by one.

Note: you should use fullfile() instead of strcat() to construct the path.

[Sanwal Yousaf]

any other function that i could use, because i would be moving tens of files at a time and moving them one by one doesn't seem to be the most elegant way of doing things

[Walter Roberson]

Use sprintf() to construct a string that is an operating system command and system() the command.

[Sanwal Yousaf]

I got it. i was making a syntax error in my script as well. However, fullfile worked like a charm. Thanks a lot!