counting files within directories: error with thumbs.db files

The directories that contain thumbs.db (microsoft OS win 7, matlab 2012) files always include 1 more file cnt than the actual count provided by [r,s]=size(ls(dirArray)) So when we automate the output of all the directories and files through a for loop, from cell arrays that contain the directory path and another for the file names. When I delete the thumbs.db file, the file output occurs without the error"index greater than matrix dimensions" However, when manually counting and cross referencing the files within a directory, the tumbs.db file appeared but other random files did not appear i the cell array listing. The files did all appear in a structure of S=dir(pwd) Why does the file count get corrupted when thumb.db fiiles are wihin a directoryy?

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

This 3 (key) line solution is probably not the most compact way to do it, but since no one has answered for hours....

    % Get all files, including Thumbs if we can see hidden files.
    allFiles = dir(pwd)
    % Find out what row Thumbs.db occurs in.
    strAllFiles = strvcat(allFiles.name)
    tf = ismember(strAllFiles, {'Thumbs.db'});
    % Now take everything except Thumbs.db.
    noThumbs = allFiles(~tf)
    % Let's check to see if it worked.
    doubleCheckResult = strvcat(noThumbs.name)

[Jan]

There is no need to use STRVCAT to create a padded CHAR matrix. More efficient:

allNames = {allFiles.name};

cleanFiles = allFiles(~strcmpi(allNames, 'Thumbs.db'));