How to find files with a given pattern in multiple folders

Hello,

I have slightly modified code shared by ImageAnalyst (I think) to built the small function below. The function below does mostly work: if I have a file named testing.txt and that I look for a file named testing.txt or even ting.txt or even .txt the function below will find the file. But not if I search for testing or test. So how can I make the function below more powerful in such a way that it will find a pattern anywhere in the file name ?

function filefinder(file, directory)

% List of the predefined directories to look into
if nargin == 1
    directories = {'C:\', 'D:\', 'E:\'};
else
    directories = {directory};
end
    
% Loop over all defined directories
for k = 1 : length(directories)

    disp(sprintf('Searching: %s', directories{k}))
    
    % Specify the file pattern.
    % Note the special file pattern. It has /**/ in it to get files in subfolders of the top level folder.
    filePattern = sprintf('%s/**/*%s', directories{k}, file);
    allFileInfo = dir(filePattern);
    
    % Throw out any folders. We want files only, not folders.
    isFolder = [allFileInfo.isdir]; 
    allFileInfo(isFolder) = [];

    % Process all files in those folders.
    totalNumberOfFiles = length(allFileInfo);
    
    % Now we have a list of all files, matching the pattern, in the top level folder and its subfolders.
    if totalNumberOfFiles >= 1
        
        for m = 1 : totalNumberOfFiles
            
            % Go through all those files.
            thisFolder = allFileInfo(m).folder;
            thisBaseFileName = allFileInfo(m).name;
            fullFileName = fullfile(thisFolder, thisBaseFileName);
            FileInfo = dir(fullFileName);
            
            fprintf('Found file %d of %d : "%s". ', m, totalNumberOfFiles, fullFileName);
            disp(FileInfo.date)
        end
        disp(' ')
    else
        fprintf('File not found in this folder \n');
        disp(' ')
    end
    
end

disp('Search completed !')

end

Answer 1

[Adam Danz]

Simply throw in an additional wildcard (*) here: (I've only added 1 character: *)

  % Specify the file pattern.
  % Note the special file pattern. It has /**/ in it to get files in subfolders of the top level folder.
   filePattern = sprintf('%s/**/*%s*', directories{k}, file);
%                                  ^ here

[012786534]

Thank you Adam! Thats all that I was missing.

[Adam Danz]

It's a well written code with informal comments!

[Adam Danz]

...I just thought of a potential problem. If you're searching for something like "myFunc.m" it will also match files such as "myFunc.mat" since the wildcard will allow the extra characters following the ".m". That problem would be fairly easy to solve by the addition another line or two that enforces an extention match but it's something you should keep in mind.

Answer 2

[meghannmarie]

Try contains:

function filefinder(file, directory)

% List of the predefined directories to look into
if nargin == 1
    directories = {'C:\', 'D:\', 'E:\'};
    directories = {'D:\','D:\'};
else
    directories = {directory};
end

allFileInfo = [];
for d = 1:numel(directories)
    file_struct = dir(fullfile(directories{d}, '**/*'));
    files = {file_struct.name};
    idx = contains(files,file);
    allFileInfo = [allFileInfo;file_struct(idx)];
end

totalNumberOfFiles = numel(allFileInfo);

if totalNumberOfFiles >= 1
    for m = 1:totalNumberOfFiles
        % Go through all those files.
        thisFolder = allFileInfo(m).folder;
        thisBaseFileName = allFileInfo(m).name;
        fullFileName = fullfile(thisFolder, thisBaseFileName);
        
        fprintf('Found file %d of %d : "%s". ', m, totalNumberOfFiles, fullFileName);
        disp(allFileInfo(m).date)
    end
    disp(' ')
else
    fprintf('File not found in this folder \n');
    disp(' ')
end

end