hello i want to search for ( * .inf ) files in a folder

hello i want to search for * .inf files in a folder taking into account the subfolders and after listing filenames in a table column.

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

Here's a function that searches for files with a given extension. It searches through a chosen parent directory and all of its subfolder at all levels. At the end of the for-loop, you can choose wether the output (matchList) should list just the filenames or the entire path to the files. I recommend using the entire path in case you have duplicate file names.

% Name the parent directory and file extension 
parentDir = 'C:\Users\foobar\Documents\MATLAB'; 
ext = 'inf'; %without the dot

% list all folders and subfolders
folderList = strsplit(genpath(parentDir), ';')'; 

% initialize loop vars
exp = sprintf('.+\\.%s', ext); 
matchList = {}; 

% loop through each folder and search for files
for i = 1:length(folderList)
    folderData = dir(folderList{i}); 
    names = {folderData.name}; 
    strLen = cellfun(@length, names); 
    endIdxCell = regexp(names, exp, 'end'); 
    endIdx = zeros(size(endIdxCell)); 
    endIdx(~cellfun(@isempty, endIdxCell)) = [endIdxCell{:}]; 
   % matchList = [matchList; names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0)'];                         % list filenames only
    matchList = [matchList; fullfile(folderList{i}, names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0))']; %list full paths
end

[Adam Danz]

Ok, then you'll use the line that is commented out instead of the line after it.

matchList = [matchList; names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0)']; 

[Ishak Oussama]

thank's

[Ishak Oussama]

Hi, I want to generalize this answer for several parentsDir

I have 20 parentDir = parentDir1,parentDir2,parentDir3...................,parentDir20

I want to calculate each matchList for each parentDir

matchList1 for parentDir1

matchList2 for parentDir2

matchList3 for parentDir3 up to matchList20 for parentDir20

thank you in advance

[Adam Danz]

Could you loop through each parent directory and apply the code to each parent directory?

Here's a slight adaptation to my solution above (UNTESTED!). "parentDir" is a cell array of strings pointing to directories. Each of those directories and all of their subdirectories will be searched.

% Name the parent directory and file extension 
parentDir = {'C:\Users\foobar\Documents\MATLAB', '...', '...', 'etc...'}; 
ext = 'inf'; %without the dot

% initialize loop vars
exp = sprintf('.+\\.%s', ext); 
matchList = {}; 

% list all folders and subfolders
for j = 1:length(parentDir)
    folderList = strsplit(genpath(parentDir{j}), ';')'; 

    % loop through each folder and search for files
    for i = 1:length(folderList)
        folderData = dir(folderList{i}); 
        names = {folderData.name}; 
        strLen = cellfun(@length, names); 
        endIdxCell = regexp(names, exp, 'end'); 
        endIdx = zeros(size(endIdxCell)); 
        endIdx(~cellfun(@isempty, endIdxCell)) = [endIdxCell{:}]; 
       % matchList = [matchList; names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0)'];                         % list filenames only
        matchList = [matchList; fullfile(folderList{i}, names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0))']; %list full paths
    end
end

[Ishak Oussama]

ok thanks, but i want the matchList result for each value of j

j=1 matchList=.....

j=2 matchList=.....

j=3 matchList=.....

j= length(parentDir)=.....

I want to use the result of each repertoir separately.

[Adam Danz]

That's quite easy. Here's a hint.

matchList = cell(length(parentDir), 1);  
for j = 1:length(parentDir)
    % loop through each folder and search for files
    for i = 1:length(folderList)
        matchList{j}{i} = ...
    end
end

matchList{1}    % this is all matches for the first parent directory
matchList{2}{3} % this is the third match of the 2nd parent directory                              

[Ishak Oussama]

thank you, your hint does not work ,I'm doing another hint that works very well

% Name the parent directory and file extension

parentDir ={'C:\Users\foobar\Documents\MATLAB', '...', '...', 'etc...'};

ext = 'inf'; %without the dot

% initialize loop vars

exp = sprintf('.+\\.%s', ext);

matchList = cell(length(parentDir), 1);

% list all folders and subfolders

for j = 1:length(parentDir)

folderList = strsplit(genpath(parentDir{j}), ';')';

% loop through each folder and search for files

for i = 1:length(folderList);

folderData = dir(folderList{i});

names = {folderData.name};

strLen = cellfun(@length, names);

endIdxCell = regexp(names, exp, 'end');

endIdx = zeros(size(endIdxCell));

endIdx(~cellfun(@isempty, endIdxCell)) = [endIdxCell{:}];

matchList{j} = [matchList{j}; names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0)']; % list filenames only

%matchList = [matchList; fullfile(folderList{i}, names(endIdx == strLen & endIdx > 0))']; %list full paths

end

end

[Adam Danz]

The hint does work if you're using it propery. It's a hint which means that the code isn't functional by itself. If you format your code so that it's more readable, I can more easily help.