MATLAB Function Reference

partialpath

Partial pathname

Description

A partial pathname is a pathname relative to the MATLAB path, matlabpath. It is used to locate private and method files, which are usually hidden, or to restrict the search for files when more than one file with the given name exists.

A partial pathname contains the last component, or last several components, of the full pathname separated by /. For example, matfun/trace, private/children, inline/formula, and demos/clown.mat are valid partial pathnames. Specifying the @ in method directory names is optional, so funfun/inline/formula is also a valid partial pathname.

Partial pathnames make it easy to find toolbox or MATLAB relative files on your path, independent of the location where MATLAB is installed.

Many commands accept partial pathnames instead of a full pathname. Some of these commands are

• help, type, load, exist, what, which, edit, dbtype, dbstop, 
  dbclear, and fopen
  

Examples

The following examples use partial pathnames:

• what funfun/inline
  
  M-files in directory matlabroot\toolbox\matlab\funfun\@inline
  argnames    disp        feval       inline      subsref     vertcat     
  cat        display    formula    nargin     symvar
  char       exist      horzcat    nargout    vectorize
  which funfun/inline/formula
  matlabroot\toolbox\matlab\funfun\@inline\formula.m                  
  % inline method
  

See Also

matlabroot, path

pareto

pascal