How do I group loaded .txt files on a single array or struct?

I'm trying to compare some files' names to group them according to their date. it happens that I have data from 3 different equipment and I'm trying to compare the files' names to build a single array or struct without success.

I loaded the files using:

      G = dir('GPS_*.txt');
      for n = 1:length(G)
          load(G(n).name)
      end
      H = dir('HOB_*.txt');
      for n = 1:length(H)
          load(H(n).name)
      end
      N = dir('NEF_*.txt');
      for n = 1:length(N)
          load(N(n).name)
      end

I have now the files loaded as:

      G                     12x1                 struct              
        GPS_01122013_1      4846x11              double              
        GPS_02112013_1      3819x11              double              
        GPS_02112013_2      3820x11              double
      H                     12x1                 struct              
        HOB_01122013_1      5226x9               double              
        HOB_02112013_1      3580x9               double              
        HOB_02112013_2      3826x9               double
      N                     13x1                 struct              
        NEF_01122013_1      88x9                 double              
        NEF_02112013_1      63x9                 double              
        NEF_02112013_2      64x9                 double

I tried to use strcmp (G.name,H.name) but had no result. I wanna group by date to build a matrix for each day of data.

Thanks in advance for the help

Answer 1

[dpb]

That's because the names aren't the same; only the substring date_seqNo portion match--

>> G.name='GPS_01122013_1';
>> H.name='HOB_01122013_1';
>> strcmp(G.name(5:end),H.name(5:end))
ans =
   1
>>

If the prefix is always the fixed four characters, the above works ok.

I think I'd approach it a little differently, however, by getting the first list and then processing it sequentially and returning the other files for the same date/sequence number.

Sotoo (caution, aircode)...

G = dir('GPS_*.txt');
for ix=1:length(G)
  [~,nam]=fileparts(D(ix).name); % the name portion only
  dte=nam(5:end);                % date string/sequence substr
  D=dir(['*' dte '.txt']);       % get the three files that go together
  for jx=1:length(D)             % and process them as a group as desired
    ...

Will want to check that D is the right length and such niceties, of course, but that should simplify the problem I'd think...

ADDENDUM:

Actually, now that I think of it, since you know the prefix for the three types, once you've got G then you don't need to do a dir() for the others at all. Just process them by creating the names directly from the one by replacing the first three characters with the other two prefix strings sequentially.

[Luiz Wiese]

Thanks for the help dpb, that gave me a new look to the problem, but after trying your solution and a few other i thought of i have a new problem . When I tried to use:

[~,nam]=fileparts(D(ix).name);

It ends in an error saying that

Undefined variable "D" or class "D".
Error in Circuito_1 (line 22)

[~,nam]=fileparts(D(ix).name);

I'm sorry if this is a simple problem but i'm extremely new to MatLab and still don't know all the tools.

Thanks.

[dpb]

Oh, sorry, that was a typo (remember I did warn "aircode" which means it's typed at the terminal, not tested :) ).

I use D as the return structure name for a dir() call so much it was just automagic to type it there. That would be 'G' in your usage (or any other one of the base file names as a reference would serve as well).