open - Open file in appropriate application - MATLAB (original) (raw)

Open file in appropriate application

Syntax

Description

open [name](#br6vstb-name) opens the specified file or variable in the appropriate application.

You can extend the functionality of open by defining your own file-handling function of the formopen_`xxx`_, where_xxx_ is a file extension. For example, if you create a function openlog, then the open function callsopenlog to process any files with the .log extension. The open function returns any single output defined by your function.

example

A = open([name](#br6vstb-name)) returns a structure ifname is a MAT-file, or it returns a figure handle ifname is a figure. Otherwise, open returns an empty array. For increased flexibility and options, use the load function to open MAT-files, and the openfig function to open figures.

Examples

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Open the file num2str.m in the Editor. MATLAB opens the file `` matlabroot\toolbox\matlab\strfun\num2str.m. If a file called num2str.m exists in a folder that is above toolbox\matlab\strfun on the MATLAB path, then MATLAB opens that file instead.

Open a file not on the MATLAB® path by including the complete file specification. If the file does not exist, MATLAB displays an error message.

Create a function called opentxt to handle files with a .txt extension.

Create the function opentxt.

function opentxt(filename) [~, name, ext] = fileparts(filename); fprintf('You have requested file: %s\n', [name ext]);

if exist(filename, 'file') == 2 fprintf('Opening in MATLAB Editor: %s\n', [name ext]); edit(filename); else wh = which(filename); if ~isempty(wh) fprintf('Opening in MATLAB Editor: %s\n', wh); edit(wh); else warning('MATLAB:fileNotFound', ... 'File was not found: %s', [name ext]); end end

end

Create the text file myTestFile.txt.

dlmwrite('myTestFile.txt',[1,2,3,4]);

Read the data from the file. The open function calls the function opentxt to open the file.

You have requested file: myTestFile.txt Opening in MATLAB Editor: myTestFile.txt

Input Arguments

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File or variable name, specified as a character array or string scalar. Ifname does not include an extension, then MATLAB searches for variables and files according to the Function Precedence Order. If name is a variable, the open function opens it in the Variables editor. Otherwise, theopen function performs one of these actions based on the file extension.

In MATLAB Online™, open only supports opening MAT-files, figures, code files (.m or.mlx), and HTML documents.

Data Types: char | string

Version History

Introduced before R2006a