Octave/Matlab: Loop through Files in a Directory

Looping through files that match a certain pattern is an easy and routine operation for a BASH shell for example:

	# matches files/directories with patterns
	# like NL300/L0.1, NL10/L0.4 etc
	for i in NL*/L*
	do
	cd $i
	echo $i
	# do something else
	cd ..
	done

view raw loopBASH.sh hosted with ❤ by GitHub

One can mimic this feature from within an Octave or Matlab program by using the command "glob". Here's how:

	% matches pattern NL300/L0.1 etc
	% stores the result in a cell structure
	dirList = glob("NL*/L*");
	% Loop through the elements of the cell
	for i = 1:length(dirList)
	dirname = dirList{i,1}; % pick out individual item
	cd(dirname) % note cd dirname won't work
	pwd % do whatever you want
	cd ../../
	end

view raw loopOctave.m hosted with ❤ by GitHub