Import all Files of one folder in order

Hey,

i wrote a short script to import files:

path = 'C:\Users\.....';
files = dir(path);
names = {files.name};

So Matlab creates an array listing all the file names in my selected location.

My my question is if the order of the importes files can be influenced. I don´t know by which criteria MatLab loads these files into the Workspace (maybe by file size).

Is it possible to sort this array by name that way it matches my Windows order ? Cause currently the order numbering is different to these in my windows storage system (i ordered by name cause of different reasons).

Greetings

[Rik]

You will have to sort the struct, or the cell array. Once you have a better description of what order you would want, we may be able to help you.

[Manuel Lauber]

Ah ok. The cell array should be ordered by name in the same way WindowsStorageSystem orders it. So the data is called:

(...)a1

(...)a2

(...)a3

and so on.

It shoulb be ordered from the lowest number to the highest.

[Stephen23]

"Is it possible to sort this array by name that way it matches my Windows order ?"

Not really, for reasons that have already been discussed in detail:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/600016-sorting-list-of-filenames-according-to-windows

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

If you just want an alphanumeric sort of the filenames then you can download my FEX submission:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/47434-natural-order-filename-sort

then unzip it onto your search path (e.g. the current directory) and simply use it like this:

names = natsortfiles({files.name});