movefile and copyfile give no result, why?

Dear,

I try to sort out files based on a specific number in the file (same row), in looping through the files. After selecting this number I want to place the file in a specific folder. At the moment I try the code with one file. But neither the movefile neither the copyfile seem to be working, Matlab gives status=1 and now error messages. Can someone help me out, because I don't understand where the problem lays.

>> A

A =

04102902.MWD

>> status=copyfile(A,'../Subterra/Typexx')

status =    1

I am using R2014b (8.4.0.150421).

The first part op the code

   Files = dir('*.MWD');

   for ii = 1:length(Files)

         FID=fopen(Files(ii).name);

L5cell = textscan(FID, '%f', 1, 'HeaderLines', 4, 'CollectOutput', 1);

L5=cell2mat(L5cell);

B=struct2cell(Files(ii));

A=cell2mat(B(1,1));

status = fclose(FID);

if L5==0;

copyfile(A,'../Subterra/Type00');

elseif L5==1;

copyfile(A,'../Subterra/Type01');

%etc. (I have 11 types)

end

end

Regards,

Jeroen

[Guillaume]

Instead of putting blank lines between each line of code, select all the code and click the {} Code button. That will make your post much more readable.

[Jan]

Using trivial names for variables is always a good idea:

B = struct2cell(Files(ii));
A = cell2mat(B(1,1));

Better:

FileName = Files(ii).name;

Answer 1

[Guillaume]

I have no idea why copyfile would fail to copy a file and still return a success status. In the code you've posted, you don't test for the status of copyfile so is it the actual code you're using?

An obvious question is: Are you sure you're looking for the files in the correct folder? My recommendation would be to use full paths everywhere instead of relative paths to the current directory:

sourcepath = 'c:\somewhere\on\your\drive'
files = dir(fullfile(sourcepath, '*.MWD'));
   for file = files'                               %a neater way to iterate over the files
      fid = fopen(fullfile(sourcepath, file.name)
      %... rest of the code

Also, hopefully you're not using 11 elseif in your code. If all the folders where you want to move code are all Typexx, then:

        [status, message] = copyfile(fullfile(sourcepath, file.name), ...
                                     fullfile(sourcepath, sprintf('../Subterra/Type%02d', L5)));
        if ~status
            error('Failed to copy file with error: %s', message);
        end

If the destination is arbitrary:

        destfolders = {'../Subterra/Type00', '../Subterra/Type01', 'other/folder', 'etc.'};
        [status, message] = copyfile(fullfile(sourcepath, file.name), ...
                                     fullfile(sourcepath, destfolders{L5+1}));

[Jan]

I agree with Guillaume: If copyfile replies a success status, you should be sure, that it was successful. Then your test of success fails, because you are searching in the wrong folder. Not that ".." is relative to the current path, not relative to the original file.

[Jeroen van Eldert]

He,

I altered the code as suggested by Guillaume, but still no result (see code below). The code runs and the status2 is ok (value: 1), but the file is not copied. But no errors or messages appear (Message '')

The folders used are:

Source:

C:\Users\jervan\Documents\MATLAB\Subterra

Destinations for example:

C:\Users\jervan\Documents\MATLAB\Subterra\Type07

C:\Users\jervan\Documents\MATLAB\Subterra\Type08

Full code:

sourcepath = 'C:\Users\jervan\Documents\MATLAB\Subterra';

files = dir(fullfile(sourcepath, '*.MWD'));

for file = files'
fid = fopen(fullfile(sourcepath, file.name));

L5cell = textscan(fid, '%f', 1, 'HeaderLines', 4, 'CollectOutput', 1);

L5=cell2mat(L5cell);
B=struct2cell(file);

A=cell2mat(B(1,1));

status1 = fclose(fid);

destfolders = {'../Type00', '../Type01', '../Type02','../Type03','../Type04', '../Type05','../Type06','../Type07','../Type08','../Type09','../Type10', '../Type11'};

[status2, message] = copyfile(fullfile(sourcepath, file.name), fullfile(sourcepath, destfolders{L5+1}));

end

[Stephen23]

@Jeroen van Eldert: please read Guillaume's comment about code formatting.

[Guillaume]

Please, please, use the {}Code button to format your code properly instead of adding blank lines, or just put two spaces before each line.

I've just realised what the cause of the issue is, the destination for copyfile is just a folder name, it's missing a filename, this should fix it:

copyfile(fullfile(sourcepath, file.name) ...
         fullfile(sourcepath, sprintf('../Type%02d', L5), file.name));

[Walter Roberson]

copyfile does not require a destination file name, only a folder name.

"copyfile('source','destination') copies the file or folder named source to the file or folder destination"

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

You would get errors if no directory ../Subterra existed, or the directories ../Subterra/Typexx do not exist.