Checking whether a file exists

[Ben Abbott]

On Mar 7, 2008, at 5:24 AM, Primoz PETERLIN wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> Time for another novice question...
>
> What is the best way to check whether a data file exists (in order  
> to avoid its accidental overwriting)?
>
> 1) The function exist() is supposed to return 2 "if the name (after  
> appending `.m') is a function file in Octave's `path'", but it also  
> returns 2 if a file is a data file in my search path, e.g., my  
> current working directory. Is this the intended behaviour and  
> something I should rely on, or is it just some side effect which can  
> vanish in the next release of Octave. In the former case, the  
> documentation should probably explicitely say so (Matlab  
> documentation claims that exist(name) returns 2 "If name is an M- 
> file on your MATLAB® search path. It also returns 2 when name is the  
> full pathname to a file or the name of an ordinary file on your  
> MATLAB search path. ").
>
> 2) stat() also does the job, but I believe it is not available in  
> Matlab?
>
> TIA, Primoz

Regarding how exist() functions in Octave, it is intended to be  
consistent with Matlab. If is it not, or if you'd like to see the  
documentation changed we're all volunteers, and would like to see more!

You can find the sources here: http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/download.html

Instructions for bug reports are here: http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/bugs.html

In any event, with regards to your present question; take a look at  
"dir" and "what"

Ben