Manage Files and Folders

This table shows how to create, open, move, and rename files and folders on local and network drives. If you have MATLAB Connector installed on your system, you also can access files and folders in MATLAB^® Drive™ from MATLAB.

Action	Tools Workflow	Function Alternative
Create a new folder	In the Current Folder browser, right-click in white space, and then select New > Folder. MATLAB creates and selects a folder named New Folder in the current folder.	Use the mkdir function. For example, create a subfolder named newdir in a parent folder named parentFolder: mkdir('parentFolder','newdir');
Move a file or folder	In the Current Folder browser, click and drag the item. You cannot move a folder while it is on the search path.	Use the movefile function. For example, move the file named myfile.m in the current folder to the folder, d:/work: movefile('myfile.m','d:/work');
Rename a file or folder	In the Current Folder browser, right-click the item and select Rename. File names must start with a letter, and can contain letters, digits, or underscores.	Use the movefile function. For example, in the current folder, rename myfile.m to oldfile.m: movefile('myfile.m','oldfile.m');
Open a file in MATLAB	On the Home tab, in the File section, click Open , and then select a file to open. You also can double-click the file in the Current Folder browser. To open a file in the Editor as a text file, even if the file type is associated with another application or tool, in the File section, click Open > Open as Text.	Use the open function. The file opens in MATLAB or in an external application, depending on the file extension.
Open a file in another program	In the Current Folder browser, right-click the file and select Open Outside MATLAB. The file opens in the application or tool that the operating system associates with the file type.
Reopen a recently opened file	On the Home tab, in the File section, click Open , and select a file from the Recent Files section. To reopen a recently opened project, select a project from the Recent Projects list.	none
Preview file contents without opening the file	In the Current Folder browser, right-click the file and select Show Details. The Details Panel expands. Not supported for live scripts and functions.	none
Delete a file or folder	In the Current Folder browser, select the file or folder and press Delete. By default, MATLAB deletes or recycles files and folders according to your operating system preferences. To permanently remove the selection when the system preference is set to recycle, press Shift+Delete. On Linux® systems, you can request that MATLAB move deleted files to a temporary folder by setting the Deleting files preference. Access this preference on the Home tab, in the Environment section, by clicking Preferences. Select MATLAB > General.	To delete a file, use the delete function. For example, delete a file named myfile.m in the current folder: delete('myfile.m'); By default, files are permanently removed. To move deleted files to a temporary folder instead, use the recycle function or set the Deleting files preference. To delete a folder, use the rmdir function. Note You cannot recover folders deleted using rmdir.
View MATLAB Drive recent activity	In the Current Folder browser, right-click any MATLAB Drive file or folder and select MATLAB Drive > View Recent Activity....	none
Open MATLAB Drive online	In the Current Folder browser, right-click any MATLAB Drive file or folder and select MATLAB Drive > Go to MATLAB Drive Online....	none

To open the Current Folder browser if it is not visible, go to the Home tab, and in the Environment section, click Layout. Then, under Show, select Current Folder. Double-clicking a subfolder displays its contents, and makes that folder the current folder.

Manage Files and Folders in MATLAB Online

MATLAB Online™ provides access to MATLAB from a standard web browser. In MATLAB Online, you only have access to the files and folders in your MATLAB Drive, and some file actions are not supported.

For more information about how to access files in MATLAB Online, see Access Files in MATLAB Online.