How to define a vector for multiple files

I have a series of .txt tiles that all contain 3 columns; depth, temperature and salinity. I want to create a vector for depth, temperature and salinity for all of these files without individually writing out the names of each as there is a lot.

I tried to use the following script to accomplish this but get the error message 'index exceeds Matrix Dimensions'. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

files=dir('*.txt');
for i=1:length(files)
  eval(['load ' files(i).name ' -ascii']);
end
Depth(:,1)=files(:,1);
Temp(:,1)=files(:,2);
Sal(:,1)=files(:,3);

[Jos (10584)]

files is a variable holding the names of the text files, not the contents of it. This is causing the error message.

Answer 1

[Jos (10584)]

Do not use eval!

files=dir('*.txt');
for i=1:length(files)
  tempdata = load(files(i).name, '-ascii') 
  % now tempdata *only* holds the values from the last file.
  % You want to store them for use, outside the for-loop.
  % A convenient way is to use structures: 
  data(i).depth = tempdata(:,1) ;
  data(i).temp = tempdata(:,2) ;
  data(i).sal = tempdata(:,3)
end

Now, for instance,

    allsal = cat(1,data(:).sal)

will give you all the salinity values of all files concatenated into a single vector

[Jos (10584)]

In addition, you can store the name of the data file in the structure as well, for later reference. Simply add

data(i).filename = files(i).name ;

inside the for-loop

[Tom Wetherill]

It works but only for the last file in the directory. If i plot(data(i).temp,data(i).depth) it only plots a figure for the last file. Is there a way to plot a figure for each file at once?

[Anthony]

At the end of the loop, i==length(files). If you want to plot the data of a all files, do:

for k=1:length(files)
   figure(k)  
   plot(data(k).temp,data(k).depth); %kth file
end