how to delete mat file

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Pat
Pat on 2 Jan 2013
i have saved a variable by using
save('fp_database.mat','data');
i want to delete this file so i tried
delete('fp_database.mat')
now even i load it by load('fpnn_database.mat');its values are displayed and not deleted
please tell how to delete it
  4 Comments
José-Luis
José-Luis on 2 Jan 2013
Do you have read/write access to the folder where the file is located?
Pat
Pat on 2 Jan 2013
yes i have

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Accepted Answer

Jan
Jan on 2 Jan 2013
Using Matlab's posibility to search a file in the complete list of folders in the path leads to such strange effects. It is recommended to use absolute file names instead:
File = fullfile(cd, 'fp_database.mat');
save(File,'data');
...
delete(File);
disp(exist(File, 'file'))
The current directory can be modified by GUI or TIMER callbacks, such that absolute file names are more secure in general also.
  2 Comments
Image Analyst
Image Analyst on 2 Jan 2013
Edited: Image Analyst on 2 Jan 2013
I second Jan's suggestion. Using full filenames where you specify exactly what both the folder and the base filename is preferable. Robust code will make liberal use of fullfile() and exist(), and not use cd as per the FAQ. (Using cd like Jan did is fine, since it doesn't actually change the directory, but I use "pwd" in cases like that.) That way you always know exactly what folder you're looking in and what file you're dealing with and there are no uncertainties about what the current directory may be or what the search path may be.
Jan
Jan on 3 Jan 2013
All that's done inside pwd is calling cd without arguments.

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More Answers (2)

Azzi Abdelmalek
Azzi Abdelmalek on 2 Jan 2013
Edited: Azzi Abdelmalek on 2 Jan 2013
Try this
a=1:10;
save('fp_database','a')
delete('fp_database.mat')
clear
load('fp_database')
a

Malcolm Lidierth
Malcolm Lidierth on 2 Jan 2013
Looks like you have several copies in different folders on the MATLAB path. Delete only deletes the first. Try
which ('fp_database.mat')
after delete to find the 2nd.

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