How does MATLAB know which .mat file to LOAD when there are two files with the same name in two different folders?

I have added several paths in MATLAB so that I don't have to do it manually every time I start MATLAB. In those paths (or directories), there are multiple files having the same name. Let say I want to load a file, namely 'KTB2007' using load() function without manually go to a specific directory and select it. MATLAB can perform this no problem, but how does MATLAB know which KTB2007 file to load? In both KTB2007 files, there are several variables having identical names as well? I just want to ensure I don't load the wrong file.

[KSSV]

Try this:

[filepath,name,ext] = fileparts(filename) ;

It will give you path of the file, from this you may know the path of the file.

[Walter Roberson]

That will not work for files loaded by way of the MATLAB path.

[KSSV]

Okay...then the first path added, from there it takes the file?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

If you want to see where MATLAB finds a specific file, you can use which() with the file name.

As for which one MATLAB will find: it has a search path; https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/what-is-the-matlab-search-path.html