Looping through an array of strings in Matlab

Question

I'm trying to just loop through some folders using a list of strings in Matlab and everything I've tried hasn't worked.

For instance, if I had three names, all I'd want is to loop through some folders like this:

names = ['Tom', 'Dick', 'Harry']

SourceDir = /path/to/my/files

for name = 1:length(names)

    mkdir SourceDir, "/things_belonging_to_", names(name), "/new_things"
    OutputDir = (SourceDir, "/things_belonging_to_", names(name), "/new_things")

    cd "/things_belonging_to_", names(name), "/oldthings"

    % do other stuff that will be dumped in OutputDir

end

I've tried using {} instead of [], I tried to use sprintf and fullfile. All I want is a really boring for-loop and I cannot seem to find/understand the documentation that shows me how to use strings in the mkdir or cd command. I always end up with string input not supported or Arguments must contain a character vector.

Anthony · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-16 22:01:27Z

2

names = ['Tom', 'Dick', 'Harry'] makes names a string rather than a string array. To use string array, make sure you have MATLAB 2016b+ where you can use double quotation mark:

names = ["Tom", "Dick", "Harry"]

Otherwise, use cell array:

names = {'Tom', 'Dick', 'Harry'}

And access the elements using curly bracket and index:

names{1} % Tom
names{2} % Dick

There are also a number of other mistakes in your code:

SourceDir = '/path/to/my/files'
mkdir([SourceDir, '/things_belonging_to_', char(names(name)), '/new_things'])
OutputDir = [SourceDir, '/things_belonging_to_', char(names(name)), '/new_things']

cd(['/things_belonging_to_', char(names(name)), '/oldthings'])

In MATLAB you can use square bracket [] to concatenate strings into one.

All in one:

names = {'Tom', 'Dick', 'Harry'};

SourceDir = '/path/to/my/files';

for name = 1:length(names)

    mkdir([SourceDir, '/things_belonging_to_', names{name}, '/new_things'])
    OutputDir = [SourceDir, '/things_belonging_to_', names{name}, '/new_things']

    cd(['/things_belonging_to_', names{name}, '/oldthings'])

    % do other stuff that will be dumped in OutputDir

end

3 Comments

Solebay Sharp Over a year ago

I appreciate your help but even using your example I have returned to my Error using mkdir Arguments must contain a character vector. error. Do you know why this might be?

Anthony Over a year ago

@SolebaySharp my bad. you have to convert names(name) to char: char(names(name)) or simply use cell array. I have updated my answer to reflect the change.

Solebay Sharp Over a year ago

Thank you I have been working on this for some time.

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