How to import a txt file from a subfolders (not included in path)

Hi, This might have been asked elsewhere, however I haven't been able to figure out a simple way of doing this.

How can I import a single .txt file located in a subdirectory of my working directory (not included in my path)?

If the file was located in my working directory I could import it as e.g.:

Data = dlmread('filname.txt',',',0,0);

However if my file is located in a subfolder, is there a way to import the file similar like this (which doesn't work)?

Data = dlmread('/subfolder/filname.txt',',',0,0);

Answer 1

[dpb]

You pass a qualified filename -- it can be fully-qualified or partially, as long as it is unambiguous and refers to the correct location.

In your reference above, the leading '/' means the subdirectory is directly underneath the default drive so that it is interpreted as (say) 'C:/subfolder/filename.txt' which is undoubtedly not where it actually is...

If it is directly under your current working directory, then the syntax would be

dlmread('subfolder/filename.txt')
% or
dlmread('./subfolder/filename.txt')

fullfile is useful for building qualified filenames...

wkdir='subfolder';                  % get/set the working directory however wish
dlmread(fullfile(wkdir,fname))      % call function with system-consistent full filename

as it takes care of ensuring needed separator and lets you also factor the code to handle different data locations w/o changes to the code itself, just data.

[Marius Hammer]

So it was just to delete the slash (/), thought I had tried that... silly me. But thanks alot and for the tip about using fullfile.