I want to get/search for all of the ".mat" files in an exact directory and all of the subdirectories within. How can I get all of the subdirectories and subfiles to my variables list?

For example, I have the MATLAB root folder, I have ".mat" files there and I have the MAT subfolder where are a lot of ".mat" files as well. After getting the ".mat" files, I want to change their names.

%% Choosing the input file or folder

folder    =   uigetdir;

% Getting the folders and files

all_files =   dir(folder);
all_dir   =   all_files([all_files(:).isdir]);
num_dir   =   numel(all_dir);

%% Getting the subfolders and subfiles

    for h   =   0:num_dir
        subfolder   =    all_dir.name;             ???????????
        v = genvarname('subfolder', who);          ???????????
        eval([v ' = dir(subfolder)'])              ???????????
        subfiles    =    dir(subfolder);           ???????????
        subdir      =    subfiles([subfiles(:).isdir]);
        num_subdir  =    numel(subdir);
    end

%% Searching for '.mat' files

matfiles = dir('.mat');

Answer 1

[dpb]

Simpler way is to use the OS directory search...for Windows

s=uigetdir;     % initial subdirectory
[~,d]=dos(['dir /s /b ' fullfile(s,'*.mat')];  % OS dir command
d=textscan(d,'%s','delimiter','\n'); d=d{:};   % convert string to cellstr array
for i=1:length(d)
  ...  % process each file here

Salt to taste as needed for given OS...

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

Use genpath(). And don't use - ever - eval()!

See attached demo code that will do what you ask. Just adapt the file pattern to *.mat. It will recurse into all subfolders and find all mat files in all subfolders.

Answer 3

[Jan]

This has been solved frequently in the FileExchange: Search for "file recursive". You find e.g.:

• http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/15859-subdir--a-recursive-file-search

[dpb]

I began submitting enhancement requests along about Version 4 to incorporate the OS switches in dir to no avail as yet...only been 25 yr, more or less... :(