Importing multiple files

Question

I am looking to import multiple .txt files. So far I have been importing them individually like this:

file1 = Import["C:\\file1.txt", "Table"];

I'd like to be able to do files[1], files[2], etc., instead of assigning individual file names to each import.

I tried doing the method described in the top answer of this post: Importing multiple files using a for-loop

But typing the following, I get "file not found during input"

testlist = 
  Table[
    Import[
      "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 90000 0.78.txt" <> 
        ToString[i] <> ".txt,", 
      "Data"], 
    {i, 4}]

 FileNames["*.txt", "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb"]

{"C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 100000 0.78.txt", 
 "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 100000 240.txt", 
 "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 100000 300.txt", 
 "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 90000 0.78.txt", 
 "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 90000 240.txt", 
 "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb\\Climb 90000 300.txt"}

the files are named like Climb 90000 0.78.txt It works for the first method I am using. Should I change the file names? — JoepM, Nov 14 '17 at 11:52
Change the Table[ so it returns the list of filenames instead of calling Import. Then change the string expression until it returns the right file names. — Niki Estner, Nov 14 '17 at 12:13
That is still a bit vague. Please evaluate FileNames["*.txt", "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb"] and paste in the results of that in your question. — J. M.'s missing motivation, Nov 14 '17 at 12:33
It looks like you can just do Import[#, "Data"] & /@ FileNames["*.txt", "C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb"], then. — J. M.'s missing motivation, Nov 14 '17 at 12:48
ok that works but then how do I take the data from a specific file and process it. For example, I took each file and did the following because the file consists of mulitple columns of data table1a = Cases[climb90078, {_, _, _, _, __}]; — JoepM, Nov 14 '17 at 13:42

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 14 '17 at 18:33

7

Get all the file names and then import them.

allFiles = FileNames["*.txt","C:\\Users\\joep\\Documents\\Scenario 2\\Climb"];
allData = Import[#, "Table"] & /@ allFiles

Now you can access the individual data pieces by indexing into allData, for instance:

allData[[n]]

gets the nth set.

answered Nov 14 '17 at 18:33

bill s

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This worked for me thank you very much – JoepM Nov 15 '17 at 12:32
Very helpful... – David G. Stork Feb 04 '21 at 00:05

Importing multiple files

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