selecting multiple files from folder directly

i have a folder DATA in which i have 3 file with names

a1_14.05.2013_1_a.txt

a1_15.05.2013_2_a.txt

a1_14.05.2013_3_a.txt

i need to select folder DATA to grab 3 different files starting with a1,1 and a1,2 and a1,3 irrespective of the dates.

please let me know how to do this

Answer 1

[David Sanchez]

Hello, this might be of help:

% this creates a structure with information on every 
% file whose name starts with "a1_" and has ".txt" extension.
files_wanted = dir('a1_*.txt'); 

files_wanted(1).name % presents the name of first file agreeing your search criteria

[shanmukh]

i need file starting with a1 and having 1 in the middle

Answer 2

[David Sanchez]

adapt the line to your need:

files_wanted = dir('a1*1*.txt');

[shanmukh]

d = uigetdir(pwd, 'Select a folder');

files_wanted = dir('a1*1*.txt');

fid1 = fopen((files_wanted), 'r');

c2 = textscan(files_wanted,'%s%f%f%f%f%f%f','delimiter', ';','HeaderLines',1);

i am trying to get data from the file but i have an error message '

Error using fopen

First input must be a file name of type char, or a file identifier of type double.'

[Jan]

dir() replies a struct array, as the documentation explains exhaustively. You want the name of the file as string:

[fName, fPath] = uigetdir(pwd, 'Select a folder');
files_wanted = dir(fullfile(fPath, 'a1*1*.txt'));
FileName = fullfile(fPath, files_wanted(1).name);
fid1 = fopen(FileName, 'r');

Answer 3

[Andrei Bobrov]

variant

q = dir('*.txt');
n = regexp({q.name},'^a1.*[1-3]_a.*','match');
out = n(~cellfun('isempty',n));

Answer 4

[David Sanchez]

Firstly, if you use uigetdir, there is no need for files_wanted = dir('a1*1*.txt'). Use one or the other method to open the files.

You can also use

uigetfile('a1*.txt')

to look for your files and choose them one at a time. Use it recursively if you want to.

In your code, you are passing and structure to fopen function, which can not be performed.