How to copy a selective list of files, 'b', 'c' and 'd', from folder A to the folders 'B', 'C' and 'D' respectively.

How to copy a selective list of files, 'b', 'c' and 'd', from folder A to the folders 'B', 'C' and 'D' respectively. Furthermore, I have an additional distinct question. How to open a '.bat' file with the Matlab command and with no further action to be performed in Matlab.

Answer 1

[Rik]

If you have the list of files and target folders, you can use the copyfile function. Running a batch file is as easy as doing this:

example='C:\batch_file.bat';
%example='batch_file.bat';%if the file is in the current folder
%example='C:\folder with space\batch_file.bat';
system(sprintf('"%s"',example));

You can also start it as a parallel process:

system(sprintf('start "%s"',example));

[Rik]

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[sagar]

I have an extended question to the 'copyfile' part. I have 10 excel files in a folder 'A' alongwith other other files. I would like to selectively transfer these files in 10 different folders based on their 'timestamp'. I know the destination folder names. While I don't know the source file names since they have randomly generated names. All I know is, that these files need to transferred individually in different folders based on their time stamp. How shall I proceed with this? Kindly enlighten.

[Rik]

You can get the file information in a struct array by using the dir function. Since R2007a this struct contains the date in both numeric and string format, so you can easily compare them (the numeric datenum value is more stable across OS languages and locales).

[sagar]

Thanks once again for the solution. It will nice if could you show one example with the necessary syntax. i.e. extracting the timestamp of different files, comparing it and then further copying the file to different folder based on the comparison of the dates.

[Rik]

Why don't you try something, and if that fails, explain what you tried, and what the exact rules for your comparison and copy are. I could write an example for you, but it will likely be totally irrelevant for your use case. You know the function you need to use: dir. It returns a struct with several fields. You should be able to write some kind of loop that deals with these files.

Answer 2

[sagar]

Sorry Friend, for the delayed response. My bad. Regarding the solution to the problem both the suggestions worked fine. Thanks a lot. Have a nice time ahead.