Comparing cell arrays and creation of subfolders

Dear Matlab Community,

I have a text file ("X") containing the name of my samples in one of the columns (column "samples") and, on the other hand, a folder with a large number of text files with thousands of different names. I would like to select the files on that folder by comparing their names with the names on my text file.

So far, this is what I have...But It is (obviously) not working, and I don't know how to proceed to select the files I'm interested in and put them into a new subfolder.

direct = uigetdir('/Users/xxx/Documents/MATLAB/')
cd(direct)
 
readtable 'X.txt'       %this is my text file, which I converted into a table
X = ans 
X_names = {X.samples}   %I've converted the "samples" column into a cell array (for the comparison)

 
d_names = dir('*.txt')  %then I got all the text files from my folder as an structured array
 
%I wanted to compare the names of my X file (X_names) with the names of the text files on my folder...
%and save the "matching" files into the variable named "real_samples". After that, I need to select these text files...
% and put them into a new folder (remaining on the same directory). What can I do?
 
if isequal(d_names.name{k}, ind_vit.names{i})
        real_samples =(d_names{k});           
    else
        unclassified =(d_names{k});
end

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

A much more robust approach using absolute filenames (rather than buggy and slow CD) and function syntax rather than outdated command syntax:

P = uigetdir('/Users/xxx/Documents/MATLAB/');
X = readtable(fullfile(P,'X.txt'));
A = lower({X.samples});
S = dir(fullfile(P,'*.txt'));
B = lower({S.name});
Y = ismember(B,A);
R = B(Y);  % real
U = B(~Y); % unclassified

I do not understand what "I need to select these text files and put them into a new folder (remaining on the same directory)" means, but perhaps MOVEFILE does what you want (you will probably need a loop).