Sorting Files into subfolders based on name

I have about 10,000 images that I need to sort based on the file name into new folders. Each file is has a nomeclature of F01W01T01Z1.tiff, which each number increases in value. I want to sort each file into a new folder based on unique F value and W values.

Answer 1

[Arjun]

Hi,

As per my understanding, you want to organize your files into folder structure according to the values of F and W in the naming format. This can be done using some file manipulation in MATLAB. Following are the steps to be followed:

• Define the source directory where your images are stored
• Get a list of all .tiff files in the source directory
• Loop through each file, get the full file name, extract the F and W values from the file name using regular expression
• Check if the file name matches the expected pattern, extract the F and W values, create the new folder path based on F and W values, create the new directories if they do not already exist
• Move the file to the new directory

Following is the code to achieve the same:

% Define the source directory where your images are stored
sourceDir = 'path/to/your/source/directory';

% Get a list of all .tiff files in the source directory
fileList = dir(fullfile(sourceDir, '*.tiff'));

% Loop through each file
for k = 1:length(fileList)
    % Get the full file name
    fileName = fileList(k).name;
    
    % Extract the F and W values from the file name using regular expressions
    tokens = regexp(fileName, 'F(\d+)W(\d+)T\d+Z\d+', 'tokens');
    
    % Check if the file name matches the expected pattern
    if ~isempty(tokens)
        % Extract the F and W values
        FValue = tokens{1}{1};
        WValue = tokens{1}{2};
        
        % Create the new folder path based on F and W values
        newFolderPath = fullfile(sourceDir, ['F', FValue], ['W', WValue]);
        
        % Create the new directories if they do not already exist
        if ~exist(newFolderPath, 'dir')
            mkdir(newFolderPath);
        end
        
        % Move the file to the new directory
        movefile(fullfile(sourceDir, fileName), fullfile(newFolderPath, fileName));
    else
        warning('File name %s does not match the expected pattern.', fileName);
    end
end

You may need to have a look at Regular Expression in MATLAB(link attached):

https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2019a/matlab/matlab_prog/regular-expressions.html?searchHighlight=Regular%20Expression&s_tid=doc_srchtitle

I hope this will help!