Matlab Error: ??? Cell contents reference from a non-cell array object.

Question

After asking this question:

how I can read the following files using the for loop: (can the loop ignore the characters in filenames?)

abc-1.TXT cde-2.TXT ser-3.TXT
wsz-4.TXT aqz-5.TXT iop-6.TXT
...

(In fact, I have 500 files)

What do I have to add at the beginning of this loop ??

for i = 1:1:500
nom_fichier = strcat(['MyFile.......' num2str(i) '.TXT']);

I tried the following solution :

Names = dir('MyFile\*.TXT');  

for i = 1:500  
    fn = ['MyFile',filesep,Names{i},'-',num2str(i),'.TXT'];  
    data = load(fn);    
    .....

After running the program, I got the following error:

??? Cell contents reference from a non-cell array object.    

Can you help me to solve this problem. my goal is to read the contents of 500 files.

Answer 1

You are trying to piece together a solution without thinking about what you are doing.

You need to look and understand what dir returns.

Names = dir('MyFile\*.TXT');

It returns a structure. See that ONE of the fields of this struct is a name field. So try this:

Names(1).name
ans =
  abc-1.TXT

See that it will be the complete name of a file, with no need to build it up. You could now put a loop around this struct,

for i = 1:numel(Names)
  data = load(Names(i).name);

  % do stuff here...
end

If you want the list of names only here as a cell array, then do this next:

Names = {Names.name};

Now, LOOK at what is in this variable. It is a cell array now. Don't just try to use it blindly without thought though. This will be a list of the complete names of every txt file in that directory. You don't need to build up the name at all anymore. Just use load on each file name.