Read files in a folder with dates on them

Hi everyone, I have a folder with multiple.mat files that are named : Profile_YYYY_Mon for example Profile_1990_Jan.mat the monts are Jan Feb Mar until Dec .How can i read each file in the correct chronological order and then use it to do something inside a for loop?

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

The actual solution is to parse the filenames that you gave. Lets create some fake files with fake data:

X=1;save Profile_1990_Jan.mat X
X=2;save Profile_1990_Feb.mat X
X=3;save Profile_1990_Mar.mat X
X=4;save Profile_1990_Apr.mat X

Now lets read them in chronological order:

P = '.'; % absolute/relative path to folder where files are saved.
S = dir(fullfile(P,'Profile*.mat')); % alphabetical order.
I = regexp({S.name},'\d+_\w+','match','once');
DT = datetime(I,'InputFormat','y_MMM')

DT = 1×4 datetime array
   01-Apr-1990   01-Feb-1990   01-Jan-1990   01-Mar-1990

[~,X] = sort(DT);
S = S(X); % sort into chronological order
for k = 1:numel(S)
    F = fullfile(P,S(k).name);
    D = load(F);
    D.X % do whatever you want with the imported data
end

ans = 1

ans = 2

ans = 3

ans = 4

Another approach without REGEXP:

S = dir(fullfile(P,'Profile*.mat')); % alphabetical order
DT = datetime({S.name},"InputFormat","'Profile'_y_MMM'.mat'")

DT = 1×4 datetime array
   01-Apr-1990   01-Feb-1990   01-Jan-1990   01-Mar-1990

[~,X] = sort(DT);
S = S(X); % sort into chronological order.
for k = 1:numel(S)
    F = fullfile(P,S(k).name);
    D = load(F);
    D.X % do whatever you want with the imported data
end

ans = 1

ans = 2

ans = 3

ans = 4

[lena kappa]

Thank you so much @Stephen23! Both answers work but is one better that the other?

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

How about something like this to sort by file time/date stamp:

folder = pwd; % Wherever you want.
filePattern = fullfile(folder, 'Profile*.mat');
fileList = dir(filePattern);
[~, sortOrder] = sort([fileList.datenum], 'ascend');
fileList = fileList(sortOrder)
allFileNames = fullfile(folder, {fileList.name});
for k = 1 : numel(allFileNames)
    thisFileName = allFileNames{k};
    fprintf('Now processing "%s" with a date of %s.\n', thisFileName, fileList(k).date);
    % Now do something with the file.
end

[lena kappa]

@Image Analyst Thank you for your time, unfortunately this wasn't what I needed.

Answer 3

[Image Analyst]

How about something like this to sort by the 3 letter month string:

months = {'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'}
folder = pwd; % Wherever you want.
filePattern = fullfile(folder, 'Profile*.mat');
fileList = dir(filePattern);
[~, sortOrder] = sort([fileList.datenum], 'ascend');
fileList = fileList(sortOrder)
allFileNames = fullfile(folder, {fileList.name})
for k = 1 : numel(months)
    indexes = find(contains(allFileNames, months(k)));
    for m = 1 : numel(indexes)
        thisFileName = allFileNames{indexes(m)};
        % See if this filename contains the k'th month.
        % If it does, process it.  If not, skip it.
        fprintf('Now processing "%s" with a date of %s.\n', thisFileName, fileList(indexes(m)).date);
    end
end

[lena kappa]

@Image Analyst Thank you for your time, unfortunately this wasn't what I needed.