Help forming loop to simplify my code

This is the code I currently have to pull and graph some data I have. As you can see it is the same code repeated 5 times for the five different files. I know it is a lot of code for a simple job and thus why I am seeking help. Is there some sort of loop I would be able to turn this into to reduce the amount of code and simplfy it? I am still learning Matlab so I apologize if the code is clunky. Thank you for the help in advanced!

%Workspace must be cleared before using this script
clear
clc

%Folders containing data of interest
Folder1 = '';
Folder2 = '';
Folder3 = '';
Folder4 = '';
Folder5 = '';

%These will be displayed in the legend of the graph
%Times should be in the same order as the corresponding folders above.
time1 = '2PM';
time2 = '8AM';
time3 = '9PM';
time4 = '11AM';
time5 = '11PM';

%=============================================================================================
%Changes to first folder and then to Finaldata folder
cd(Folder1)
cd('Finaldata')

%Searches for SizeChem data
SizeChemfile = dir('*SizeChem.dat');
SizeChemdata = SizeChemfile.name;

SizeChem = importdata(SizeChemdata);

%Calculates the length of SizeChem data
total = length(SizeChem).*0.1;

%Replaces first column with zeros
SizeChem(:,1) = 0 ;

newcolumn = sum(SizeChem,2);

for i = 1:length(SizeChem)
   
    T(i) = sum(newcolumn(1:i,1));
    
end

T = T(:,1:length(SizeChem));

sums = (T')./T(end,end);

%Replaces zeros in first column with correct diameters
SizeChem(:,1) = 0.05:0.1:total ;

plot(SizeChem(:,1), sums)

hold on

%=============================================================================================
%Changes to first folder and then to Finaldata folder
cd(Folder2)
cd('Finaldata')

%Searches for SizeChem data
SizeChemfile = dir('*SizeChem.dat');
SizeChemdata = SizeChemfile.name;

SizeChem = importdata(SizeChemdata);

%Calculates the length of SizeChem data
total = length(SizeChem).*0.1;

%Replaces first column with zeros
SizeChem(:,1) = 0 ;

newcolumn = sum(SizeChem,2);

for i = 1:length(SizeChem)
   
    T(i) = sum(newcolumn(1:i,1));
    
end

T = T(:,1:length(SizeChem));

sums = (T')./T(end,end);

%Replaces zeros in first column with correct diameters
SizeChem(:,1) = 0.05:0.1:total ;

plot(SizeChem(:,1), sums)

%=============================================================================================
%Changes to first folder and then to Finaldata folder
cd(Folder3)
cd('Finaldata')

%Searches for SizeChem data
SizeChemfile = dir('*SizeChem.dat');
SizeChemdata = SizeChemfile.name;

SizeChem = importdata(SizeChemdata);

%Calculates the length of SizeChem data
total = length(SizeChem).*0.1;

%Replaces first column with zeros
SizeChem(:,1) = 0 ;

newcolumn = sum(SizeChem,2);

for i = 1:length(SizeChem)
   
    T(i) = sum(newcolumn(1:i,1));
    
end

T = T(:,1:length(SizeChem));

sums = (T')./T(end,end);

%Replaces zeros in first column with correct diameters
SizeChem(:,1) = 0.05:0.1:total ;

plot(SizeChem(:,1), sums)

%=============================================================================================
%Changes to first folder and then to Finaldata folder
cd(Folder4)
cd('Finaldata')

%Searches for SizeChem data
SizeChemfile = dir('*SizeChem.dat');
SizeChemdata = SizeChemfile.name;

SizeChem = importdata(SizeChemdata);

%Calculates the length of SizeChem data
total = length(SizeChem).*0.1;

%Replaces first column with zeros
SizeChem(:,1) = 0 ;

newcolumn = sum(SizeChem,2);

for i = 1:length(SizeChem)
   
    T(i) = sum(newcolumn(1:i,1));
    
end

T = T(:,1:length(SizeChem));

sums = (T')./T(end,end);

%Replaces zeros in first column with correct diameters
SizeChem(:,1) = 0.05:0.1:total ;

plot(SizeChem(:,1), sums)

%=============================================================================================
%Changes to first folder and then to Finaldata folder
cd(Folder5)
cd('Finaldata')

%Searches for SizeChem data
SizeChemfile = dir('*SizeChem.dat');
SizeChemdata = SizeChemfile.name;

SizeChem = importdata(SizeChemdata);

%Calculates the length of SizeChem data
total = length(SizeChem).*0.1;

%Replaces first column with zeros
SizeChem(:,1) = 0 ;

newcolumn = sum(SizeChem,2);

for i = 1:length(SizeChem)
   
    T(i) = sum(newcolumn(1:i,1));
    
end

T = T(:,1:length(SizeChem));

sums = (T')./T(end,end);

%Replaces zeros in first column with correct diameters
SizeChem(:,1) = 0.05:0.1:total ;

plot(SizeChem(:,1), sums)

%===========================================================================================

xlabel('Diameter (\mum)', 'FontSize', 18)
ylabel('Counts(%)', 'FontSize', 18)
title('Particle Size Distribution', 'FontSize', 20)
legend({time1, time2, time3, time4, time5}, 'Location', 'best', 'FontSize', 13)
hold off

[dpb]

Sure, just iterate through the returned list of files with a appropriate dir() wild card expression.

However, it looks to me as though your script will just process the same set(s) of files fie times--since the 'FolderN" variables are all empth, the two cd commnands are all going to end up in the same 'FinalData' subdirectory("folder") and the dir('*SizeChem.dat') call is then going to return the identical list of files each time.

[Stephen23]

Avoid cd in code. It slows everything down, can change what functions are called, and it makes debugging harder. All functions that import/export data to/from files accept absolute/relative filenames, you should use them.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_env/specify-file-names.html

Answer 1

[Murugan C]

Hello Wilson, Please try below code.

clc
clear

%These will be displayed in the legend of the graph
%Times should be in the same order as the corresponding folders above.
time1 = '2PM';
time2 = '8AM';
time3 = '9PM';
time4 = '11AM';
time5 = '11PM';

%lists all files with a .dat extension zero or more directories under the current directory.
SizeChemfile = dir('**/*SizeChem.mat');  

figure %open figure for plotting

for i = 1 : length(SizeChemfile) % getting length of .dat files.
    SizeChemdata = SizeChemfile(i).name;
    SizeChem = importdata(SizeChemdata);
    %Calculates the length of SizeChem data
    total = length(SizeChem).*0.1;
    %Replaces first column with zeros
    SizeChem(:,1) = 0 ;
    newcolumn = sum(SizeChem,2);
    for i = 1:length(SizeChem)
        
        T(i) = sum(newcolumn(1:i,1));
        
    end
    T = T(:,1:length(SizeChem));
    sums = (T')./T(end,end);
    %Replaces zeros in first column with correct diameters
    SizeChem(:,1) = 0.05:0.1:total ;
    hold on
    plot(SizeChem(:,1), sums)
    
    %===========================================================================================
    xlabel('Diameter (\mum)', 'FontSize', 18)
    ylabel('Counts(%)', 'FontSize', 18)
    title('Particle Size Distribution', 'FontSize', 20)
end

legend({time1, time2, time3, time4, time5}, 'Location', 'best', 'FontSize', 13)
hold off