How to return files with a specific extension using 'dir'?

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The command
dir *.bmp
will print to the command window the names of all files in the current directory ending with the extension .bmp. I know the following is not valid MATLAB syntax, but is there a command that would be the equivalent of
fileList = dir *.bmp;
I want to create a list of all files ending with a specific extension using minimal code. Currently I have the following:
files = dir;
L = length(files);
index = false(1, L);
for k = 1:L
M = length(files(k).name);
if M > 4 && strcmp(files(k).name(M-3:M), '.bmp')
index(k) = true;
end
end
images = files(index);
There must be a simpler way. Thank you in advance for any comments.

Accepted Answer

Image Analyst
Image Analyst on 11 Aug 2014
Try
fileList = dir('*.bmp');
Also, see the FAQ: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_process_a_sequence_of_files.3F, particulalry the second option.
  3 Comments
Image Analyst
Image Analyst on 29 Apr 2020
True. But I don't think it's wise to have a folder with the name that a single image typically has. Virtually always, files the end in .bmp are image files, not folders.

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More Answers (1)

Tron
Tron on 27 Apr 2018
Old question, but I found another useful way of doing this. If you have a specific directory you want to search in, you can use a combination of dir and fullfile.
Try
folder = uigetdir();
fileList = dir(fullfile(folder, '*.bmp'));
  3 Comments
Sebastian Priebe
Sebastian Priebe on 20 May 2021
Matlab is neither freeware, nor does this set it apart from them. For example in python you can just use the tkinter module and get the same.

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