Is there a version of dir that takes a path?

I want to use `dir` to get some list of files. But to do this I need to cd into a directory which seems really dum. Is there not a version of dir that just takes a path? i.e. something like:

    dir('~/cool/path/files_*')

this way I specify the path and only the files with that format without having to cd into places.

[Stephen23]

"But to do this I need to cd into a directory which seems really dum."

The dir documentation clearly states that it accepts "absolute or relative path names". See also:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/specify-file-names.html

It is possible that ~ is not supported on your OS.

[Walter Roberson]

~ is supported on Mac.