How can I read in specific cells which contain file names ending in 'Pressure.mat'?

I have a list of 490 files in a matrix, I want to only read the files which end in 'Pressure.mat', if it does not end in this I don't want to read it. What function can I use to do this? Even creating a new matrix which only contains these specific cells containing the files would be what I need.

[Stephen23]

See my answer for a simpler, more robust solution.

Answer 1

[KSSV]

You can run a loop, and use strfind. Find for Pressure.mat in the string, if the output is not empty, then you have to read the file.

[Oliver Bunn]

I have tried this but this only tells me the position of Pressure.mat rather then outputting the entire file name

[KSSV]

You have filename already in hand in matrix...If it is giving indices of position then you have to pick that matrix(i,j) filename. Else not.

M = [{'coolpressure.mat'} {'cool.mat'} ; {'hello.mat'} {'hipressure.mat'}] ;
for i = 1:2
    for j = 1:2
        idx = strfind(M{i,j},'pressure.mat') ;
        if ~isempty(idx)
            fprintf('pick the %s file \n',M{i,j})
        end
    end
end

Answer 2

[Stephen23]

Do not use ugly loops to do this. MATLAB is much more beautiful than that!

Do not use strfind to do this: it will match that string anywhere in the filename, e.g. it will match 'Pressure.mat.txt' or 'Pressure.mat-old', even though these are not what you are looking for.

A much more robust solution is to use regexp to match exactly the string you want:

 >> C = {...
    'NotThisFile.mat';...
    'ThisPressure.mat';...
    'YesPressure.mat';...
    'NoPressure.mat.txt';...
    'WrongPressure.txt';...
 };
 >> idx = cellfun('isempty',regexp(C,'Pressure\.mat$')); % $ matches end of string!
 >> D = C(~idx)
 D = 
    'ThisPressure.mat'
    'YesPressure.mat'

You can easily loop over these names:

 >> for k = find(~idx)', C{k}, end
 ans =
 ThisPressure.mat
 ans =
 YesPressure.mat

Note that regexp is case sensitive. You can use regexpi for a case insensitive match.

[Oliver Bunn]

Works Perfectly! Thank you

[Stephen23]

@Oliver Bunn: you can vote for my answer if it works for you.