Search for all mat datafiles in directory

I want to return a cell array containing absolute file path/locations of all .mat datafiles given an initial folder location. It should search all subfolders etc. Not sure how to implement this, and if it should be done recursively...?

Any ideas?

[Stephen23]

@Seb: what version of MATLAB are you using?

[Seb]

2016b. I essentially need the output of

dir /*.mat

held in a variable

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

Something like this perhaps:

D = the root directory;
S = dir(fullfile(D,'**','*.mat'));
N = {S.name};
F = {S.folder};

[Seb]

ok this is what I have adapted it to so far:

       function self = find_matfiles(self)

           FileList = dir(fullfile(uigetdir(),'**','*.mat'));

           amount_files = size(FileList);
           amount_files = amount_files(1,1);

           for i = 1:amount_files

               x = char(FileList(i).name);
               y = char(FileList(i).folder);
               z = '\';

               s1 = strcat(y,z);
               s2 = strcat(s1,x);

               disp(s2);

              load(s2); 

           end

       end

However it wont load the file into the workspace(or any of them)

[Stephen23]

@Seb: Your code has "features" that should be fixed:

• char is confusing and totally superfluous as the names are already character.
• using fullfile is much better than hardcoding with file separators.
• using fullfile is much better than using strcat.
• using size is confusing: you should simply use numel.
• self is not used anywhere, and implies that you are trying to write a MATLAB function as it were a Python class. What is self?
• you should always load into a structure:

S = load(...);

• variables in this function's workspace are local to that workspace. If you want the data to be available in another workspace (e.g. the base workspace) then you will need to pass it as an output argument. MATLAB variables do not magically jump between workspaces:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/base-and-function-workspaces.html

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/share-data-between-workspaces.html

• the code would be improved by following the examples shown in the documentation:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/import_export/process-a-sequence-of-files.html

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/57446-faq-how-can-i-process-a-sequence-of-files

• if you want a truly recursive dir then have a look on FEX:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange?term=recursive+dir