Accessing Path names for reading Excel and saving .mat files in same folder

Hi,

I have Excel data files in a number of folders under the MATLAB folder (all on the MATLAB path). To speed up analysis, I would like to only read the Excel file once, and then save the variables in a .mat file *in the same folder *as the original Excel file.

How do you get the actual path name for the Excel file without having to manually input it so it can be prepended to the .mat file name?

Thanks

Doug

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_process_a_sequence_of_files.3F

Together with:

idx = find(TheFilename == '.', 1, 'last');
NewFilename = TheFilename;
NewFilename(idx:end) = '.mat';

Answer 2

[Douglas Anderson]

Thanks, Walter.

I guess I wasn't really clear about what I was looking for. I was wondering if there is something like "which" for Excel files, which would give the pathname of an existing file (in an existing directory), rather than inputting the path directly. This is on a Windows computer, so perhaps it's not as straightforward.

OH!!!!!! I just found that which DOES work for that! Then the rest of it is appropriate, using the find to parse it. Great!

Doug