MATLAB how to automatically read a number of files

I would like to plot a number of 3D graphs from different data files. For example I am using

fid = fopen('SS 1.dat','r');

to read the first file and then plot a graph. How to set the program to change the name to 'SS 2.dat' automatically? Also for the tenth file the name becomes 'SS 10.dat' which has one space less (i.e.only two space between SS and 10) then the first to ninth files. How to set the program to adjust for that? Thank you.

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

This is a very common question, so we covered it very thoroughly in our wiki:

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

Because the files already exist I would recommend that you use the dir method, rather than trying to recreate the filenames using sprintf. You can use my FEX submission to sort the filenames correctly:

http://de.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/47434-natural-order-filename-sort

Or alternatively using sprint you can adapt this for your code:

>> fmt = 'SS%4d.dat';
>> sprintf(fmt,9)
ans = SS   9.dat
>> sprintf(fmt,10)
ans = SS  10.dat