how to change a filename

What command should i give to change file names in one go; as of now i am giving

mypath='C:\Users\Pritha\Desktop\matalb\1996bc\g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.199';

names=dir(mypath);

fileNames = {names(~[names.isdir]).name};

for iFile = 1:(fileNames)  %# Loop over the file names

    newName = sprintf('%d.nc',iFile);  %# Make the new name

    f=['C:\Users\Pritha\Desktop\matalb\1996bc\g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.199',num2str(newName)];

    g=['C:\Users\Pritha\Desktop\matalb\1996bc\g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.199',num2str(fileNames{iFile})];

    movefile(g,f);        %# Rename the file

end

g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.19960101-19960130.180W_90S_180E_90N.nc
g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.19960201-19960231.180W_90S_180E_90N.nc
g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.19960301-19960331.180W_90S_180E_90N.nc
g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.19960401-19960431.180W_90S_180E_90N.nc

I want them to be name as 1.nc, 2.nc, 3.nc, 4.nc.

[Rik]

Have you tried googling it? I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say there are hundreds of examples to be found to do this.

One hint: if you are planning on using anything to process your data for which it is useful to keep the original order, use padding. You can do that with sprintf('%04d',n).

[Pritha Pande]

Ya I know there are. But, I have been trying it for quite long and not able to get the desired result. I wanted to know what is wrong wih my command so, thought of asking it overhere. Anyways,I will try it again with the hint you have given.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

You are missing the directory separator between the folder name and the file name.

I recommend that you re-code using fullfile()

mypath = 'C:\Users\Pritha\Desktop\matalb\1996bc\g4.timeAvgMap.M2TMNXAER_5_12_4_BCEXTTAU.199';

names = dir(mypath);
names([names.isdir]) = [];
fileNames = {names.name};

for iFile = 1: length(fileNames)  %# Loop over the file names

      newName = sprintf('%04d.nc', iFile);  %# Make the new name

      f = fullfile(mypath, newName);
      g = fullfile(mypath, fileNames{iFile});

      movefile(g,f);        %# Rename the file

end