Using contains() with dir() to search files in folder

%{
trying to figure out how to search a folder for a file that contains a
matching string 

serials is a 1x26 cell 
%}
files_in_folder = dir('folder');

TF = contains(files_in_folder.name, serials);
%{
Error using contains
Incorrect number of arguments. Each parameter name must be followed by
a corresponding value.
%}
TF = contains(files_in_folder.name, serials(1))
%{
Error using contains
Incorrect number of arguments. Each parameter name must be followed by a
corresponding value.
%}

for i = files_in_folder
    if  TF == 1
        File = strcat('example.txt');
    end
end
%{
trying a few different variations:
%}


for i = files_in_folder
                if contains(files_in_folder, serials) == 1
                    disp(serials);
            end
end

for i = files_in_folder.name
                if contains(files_in_folder.name, serials) == 1
                    disp(short_serials);
                end
end
%{
A dot '.' indexing expression produced a comma-separated list with 15
values where only a single value is allowed.
%}

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

Replace this comma-separated list

files_in_folder.name

with this cell array of filenames:

{files_in_folder.name}

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/comma-separated-lists.html

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1656435-tutorial-comma-separated-lists-and-how-to-use-them

S = dir(..);
TF = contains({S.name}, serials);

[LabRat]

Thanks!

if I do something like this:

TF = contains({files_in_folder.name}, short_serials(2));

the result is:

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Once I get an index with a value of 1, I want to load a file. In this example, {files_in_folder(1).name} = 1, so I want to load that file name in {files_in_folder(1).name}.

I tried a for loop but get the following error:

TF = contains(files_in_folder.name, app.SelectTestID.Value);
counter = 0;
for i = files_in_folder
    counter = counter + 1;
    if  TF(counter) == 1
        VideoFile = files_in_folder(counter).name;
    end
end

Error using contains

Incorrect number of arguments. Each parameter name must be followed by

a corresponding value.

If I instead use:

TF = contains({files_in_folder.name}, app.SelectTestID.Value);

Then I get this error:

Unrecognized function or variable 'VideoFile'.

at the following line of code:

vidObj = VideoReader(VideoFile);

[Stephen23]

Rather than using a loop, you should simply use that index directly. For example:

TF = contains({files_in_folder.name}, app.SelectTestID.Value);
assert(nnz(TZ)==1,'Exactly one filename must match')
VideoFile = files_in_folder(TF).name;