Compare file names and delete some of them

Hello, I am executing code for a list of 700 run files that are saved into a folder I've called "Run". Each run file has a unique name which follows this format: "RUN_variable_model_date.yml". Once a run file is complete, it writes an Excel file with the same naming format, only with extension .xlsx (instead of .yml) and saves it into a folder called "Output". The problem is that my code is skipping over several of the run files. I need to figure out which of the 700 run files have completed successfully and which I need to rerun. I think I need to create a loop that will compare the file names in the "Run" and "Output" folders and delete any run files that have a match in the "Output" folder. Does anyone have any sample code I might use to get started, or is there a particular Matlab tool that is designed to help with this type of problem? Thanks!

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

run_folder = 'Run';
out_folder = 'Output';
in_ext = 'yml';
out_ext = 'xlsx';

dinfo_run = dir( fullfile(run_folder, ['*.' in_ext]) );
basename_run = regexprep( {dinfo_run.name}, ['\.' in_ext '$'], '');

dinfo_out = dir( fullfile(out_folder, ['*.' out_ext]) );
basename_out = regexprep( {dinfo_out.name}, ['\.' out_ext '$'], '');

output_already = ismember(basename_run, basename_out);

basename_tryagain = basename_run(~output_already);

for K = 1 : length(basename_tryagain)
   thisbase = basename_tryagain{K};
   thisfile_in = fullfile(run_folder, [thisbase '.' in_ext]);
   thisfile_out = fullfile(out_folder, [thisbase '.' out_ext]);

     %now process thisfile_in creating thisfile_out
  end

[Shannon Jones]

Hi Walter, thanks so much for your quick response. I'm trying to figure out what the code does here... I just tested the code with some sample files in the "Run" and "Output" folders. I'm looking at the output for the "basename_tryagain" variable. It's printing all of the file names in the "Run" folder, regardless of whether they match with a file in the "Output" folder. What is the intended output from this code? A list of file names that I should keep in the "Run" folder to retry? Thanks!