Have data in subfolders available

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I have a folder with a MATLAB script. In that folder, I have subfolders with information that can be processed with the MATLAB script. If I want to read a specific file, the only idea I have now is to specify the complete path for each file, with it is tedious.
What I would like is to have all those files available, in the same way that you have available all the data when you are working in the current folder. Is there any way to have available all the data in the subfolders (CSV files, TXT files, etc.)?

Accepted Answer

Guillaume
Guillaume on 18 Nov 2019
Edited: Guillaume on 18 Nov 2019
Firstly, it's not a good idea to mix code and data folder. The two should be completely separate, so that your code can work regardless of the location of the data (on the local drive, on a usb drive, on a remote server, in the cloud...)
Secondly, it's not clear what you mean by "available". Matlab can access data in any folder and can easily list the content of any folder with dir. e.g. if you wanted to know all the .csv files in a specific folder you'd use:
folder = 'C:\somewhere\somefolder'
filelist = dir(fullfile(folder, '*.csv'));
%process the files one by one:
for fidx = 1:numel(filelist)
data = readtable(fullfile(filelist(fidx).folder, filelist(fidx).name)); %read the file
%... code to use the data
end
  7 Comments
Stephen23
Stephen23 on 20 Nov 2019
Edited: Stephen23 on 20 Nov 2019
"..then select 'Add to Path'. If you do so, all the files in that folder are now available when you use the script."
The MATLAB Search Path should refer only to folders that contain MATLAB code. It is not intended for accessing data files: data files are most efficiently read using absolute/relative filenames, exactly as Guillaume showed.
Neko Benítez
Neko Benítez on 20 Nov 2019
I am going to start working that way for now on. But until now, I always kept the data and script in the same folder/subfolder.
Thank you very much again!

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