there are specified folders in an specified directory that contents of some of them are equals to contents of others

there are specified folders in an specified directory that contents of some of them are equals to contents of others. the only difference between these folders is the name of them (other properties like:size,numbers of inside files, inside files names,.. are same) its needed to keep only one of these folder and delete other similar folders.

for example in specified directory there are these folders:a,b,c,d,f,g,h,j,....

a,f,r are equal and also b,t,l,o are equal too. now its needed to keep 'a' and delete 'f,r' and also to keep 'b' and delete t,l,o

i use this code for gathering the names of files that are inside each folder: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/30835-getcontents

and use these command but it doesn't work correctly

EDITED

Directory='D:\Cl\Clas\'; % this is the same specified directory that i told in the question
   FolderNames=get_contents(Directory);%this gives names of folders that i want to comparing them (there are 280 folders)
 NumbersOfFolders=size(get_contents(Directory),1);
 cd(Directory);
 for i=1:NumbersOfFolders
     A_dir=dir(FolderNames{i,1});
     A_dir=rmfield(A_dir,'date');

       for j=1:NumbersOfFolders

           B_dir=dir(FolderNames{j,1});
           B_dir=rmfield(B_dir,'date');
          a=isequal(A_dir, B_dir);
          if a==1 
           rmdir(FolderNames{j,1},'s')
          end
       end
   end

Now there are 2 problems: 1- one of the equals folders must be keep but not has been kept

2- after deleting some folders errors :

??? Error using ==> rmdir
D:\Cl\Clas\foldername is not a directory.

Error in ==> folderdeletingm at 40
         rmdir(FolderNames{j,1},'s')

because this folder(FolderNames{i,1}) has been deleted in loop 2 when FolderNames{j,1} = FolderNames{i,1}. also itself is deleted in second loop too and this cause this error

[Fangjun Jiang]

What is get_contents()? You own function?

[mohammad]

no i downloaded it from here:

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/30835-getcontents

Answer 1

[Jan]

Directory = 'D:\Cl\Clas\';
FolderNames = get_contents(Directory);
NumbersOfFolders = numel(FolderNames);  % Faster
cd(Directory);
for i = 1:NumbersOfFolders
   % Exclude '.' and '..':
   A_dir  = dir(FolderNames{i});
   A_name = {A_dir.name};
   index  = or(strcmp(A_name, '.'), strcmp(A_name, '..'));
   A_dir  = A_dir(~index);
   A_dir  = rmfield(A_dir,'date');
   for j = (i+1):NumbersOfFolders   % (i+1) instead of 1 !!!
     if exist(FolderNames{j}, 'dir') == 0  % [EDITED]
       continue;                           % [EDITED]
     end                                   % [EDITED]
     % Exclude '.' and '..':
     B_dir  = dir(FolderNames{j});
     B_name = {B_dir.name};
     index  = or(strcmp(B_name, '.'), strcmp(B_name, '..'));
     B_dir  = B_dir(~index);
     B_dir  = rmfield(B_dir, 'date');
     if isequal(A_dir, B_dir)
        rmdir(FolderNames{j}, 's')
     end
  end
end

[mohammad]

so nice

this errors too but by running again and again manually this m-file, result is good

error is same:

??? Error using ==> rmdir

D:\Cl\Clas\foldername is not a directory.

Error in ==> folderdeletingm at 65

rmdir(FolderNames{j}, 's')

[Jan]

See [EDITED]: Added code to catch a missing folder.

[mohammad]

let me check

and so much thanks

[mohammad]

it works perfect!

thanks a lot Jan!

very very nice!

[mohammad]

and i have another question about rename this folders please see that too Jan ( i m writing it)

Answer 2

[Fangjun Jiang]

I suggest you use this:

A_dir=dir(FolderA);
B_dir=dir(FolderB);

Then use isequal(A_dir,B_dir) to compare if all the file properties are equal.

[mohammad]

thanks

let me check

[mohammad]

OK, i forgot telling 'date' of contents of equal folders are not equal

[Fangjun Jiang]

A_dir=rmfield(A_dir,'date')

[mohammad]

Thanks a lot

because of more speed and being enough, how could these be comparing only by name field?

Answer 3

[Jan]

You can use Fangjun's solution and remove the date:

A_dir = dir(FolderA);
B_dir = dir(FolderB);
[A_dir.date]    = deal('');
[A_dir.datenum] = deal(0);
[B_dir.date]    = deal('');
[B_dir.datenum] = deal(0);
isequal(A_dir, B_dir)

If this is time-critical, you can use FEX: fRMField to remove the date and datenum fields faster.

[mohammad]

Thanks Jan

now how could make for-loop to do automatically delete?

when i use loops that i told in the question above, first it deletes equal folders but after deleting, numbers of contents of the directory changes( because for example 5 folders are deleted and number of contents now are 5 numbers less than ago). so 'for i=1:numbers of contents' because of varying of 'numbers of contents' gives error.

[Jan]

I do not understand the problem. The above code is used to compare two folders. If the 2nd euqals the first, the second one is deleted. Please post the updated code (as addition in the original question, not as comment) and append the error message, if an error occurs.

[mohammad]

please see updated