movefile (MATLAB Functions)

Move file or directory

Graphical Interface

As an alternative to the movefile function, you can use the Current Directory browser to move files and directories.

Syntax

movefile('source')
movefile('source','destination')
movefile('source','destination','f')
[status,message,messageid] = movefile('source','destination','f')

Description

movefile('source') moves the file or directory named source to the current directory, where source is the absolute or relative pathname for the directory or file. Use the wildcard * at the end of source to move all matching files. Note that the archive attribute of source is not preserved.

movefile('source','destination') moves the file or directory named source to the location destination, where source and destination are the absolute or relative pathnames for the directory or files. To rename a file or directory when moving it, make destination a different name than source. Use the wildcard * at the end of source to move all matching files.

movefile('source','destination','f') moves the file or directory named source to the location destination, regardless of the read-only attribute of destination.

[status,message,messageid]=movefile('source','destination','f') moves the file or directory named source to the location destination, returning the status, a message, and the MATLAB error message ID (see error and lasterr). Here, status is 1 for success and is 0 for error. Only one output argument is required and the f input argument is optional.

The * wildcard in a path string is supported.

Examples

Move Source to Current Directory

To move the file myfiles/myfunction.m to the current directory, type

```
movefile('myfiles/myfunction.m')
```

If the current directory is projects/testcases and you want to move projects/myfiles and its contents to the current directory, use ../ in the source pathname to navigate up one level to get to the directory.

```
movefile('../myfiles')
```

Move All Matching Files by Using a Wildcard

To move all files in the directory myfiles whose names begin with my to the current directory, type

```
movefile('myfiles/my*')
```

Move Source to Destination

To move the file myfunction.m from the current directory to the directory projects, where projects and the current directory are at the same level, type

```
movefile('myfunction.m','../projects')
```

Move Directory Down One Level

This example moves the a directory down a level. For example to move the directory projects/testcases and all its contents down a level in projects to projects/myfiles, type

movefile('projects/testcases','projects/myfiles/')

The directory testcases and its contents now appear in the directory myfiles.

Rename When Moving File to Read-Only Directory

Move the file myfile.m from the current directory to d:/work/restricted, assigning it the name test1.m, where restricted is a read-only directory.

movefile('myfile.m','d:/work/restricted/test1.m','f')

The read-only file myfile.m is no longer in the current directory. The file test1.m is in d:/work/restricted and is read only.

Return Status When Moving Files

In this example, all files in the directory myfiles whose names start with new are to be moved to the current directory. However, if new* is accidentally written as nex*. As a result, the move is unsuccessful, as seen in the status and messages returned:

[s,mess,messid]=movefile('myfiles/nex*')

s =
     0

mess =

A duplicate filename exists, or the file cannot be found.

messid =

MATLAB:MOVEFILE:OSError

See Also

cd, copyfile, delete, dir, fileattrib, filebrowser, ls, mkdir, rmdir

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