Read multiple txt files using a loop

This is the following code that i have

EDIdir = 'C:\Users\Alexis\Google Drive\B\D\';
date_1 = 2016-06-10
date_2 = 2016-06-11
Qdata = dlmread([EDIdir 'Something_' date_1 '.txt']);

I want to process multiple data from different dates, eg have date_2, date_3, date_4... Tried using a for loop to loop through date_i, i = 1:12 but didn't work. I am sure that i am making some kind of syntax wrong.

Thank you.

[Adam]

Put your dates in an array instead of individual variables. Why declare 12 variables that you can't loop around, when you can use 1 that you can?

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

Your mistake was to create lots of individual numbered variables for the date strings. This is a very bad idea, because it makes accessing them very difficult (read this page to know why). Instead, put all of your dates into one array (e.g. a cell array) and looping over it becomes trivial using basic indexing:

dates = {'2016-06-10','2016-06-11'};
out = cell(size(dates));
for k = 1:numel(dates)
    fname = sprintf('Something_%s.txt',dates{k})
    out{k} = dlmread(fullfile(EDIdir,fname));
end

Or alternatively you might like to use the dir method:

 S = dir(fullfile(EDIdir,'Something_*.txt'));
 out = cell(size(S));
 for k = 1:numel(S)
     fname = S(k).name;
     etc
 end

You will find a detailed explanation of both methods here:

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

[Alexios Costouri]

Thank you so much! I have been trying for quite a while now.