stripfile

 function [f,file] = stripfile(x,flag,sep)

 <x> is a string referring to a file (it is okay if the file
   does not actually exist).  if <x> ends in /, we automatically
   act as if that / does not exist.
 <flag> (optional) is whether to swap the output arguments.  default: 0.
 <sep> (optional) is the character to use.  default: '/'.

 if <flag> is 0,
   return <f> as the string but with the file name removed.
   return <file> with the file name.
 if <flag> is 1, these arguments are swapped.

 example:
 isequal(stripfile('blah/temp.png'),'blah/')
 isequal(stripfile('temp.png'),'')
 isequal(stripfile('ok/blah/',1),'blah')

0001 function [f,file] = stripfile(x,flag,sep)
0002 
0003 % function [f,file] = stripfile(x,flag,sep)
0004 %
0005 % <x> is a string referring to a file (it is okay if the file
0006 %   does not actually exist).  if <x> ends in /, we automatically
0007 %   act as if that / does not exist.
0008 % <flag> (optional) is whether to swap the output arguments.  default: 0.
0009 % <sep> (optional) is the character to use.  default: '/'.
0010 %
0011 % if <flag> is 0,
0012 %   return <f> as the string but with the file name removed.
0013 %   return <file> with the file name.
0014 % if <flag> is 1, these arguments are swapped.
0015 %
0016 % example:
0017 % isequal(stripfile('blah/temp.png'),'blah/')
0018 % isequal(stripfile('temp.png'),'')
0019 % isequal(stripfile('ok/blah/',1),'blah')
0020 
0021 % input
0022 if ~exist('flag','var') || isempty(flag)
0023   flag = 0;
0024 end
0025 if ~exist('sep','var') || isempty(sep)
0026   sep = '/';
0027 end
0028 
0029 % find any /
0030 locs = strfind(x,sep);
0031 
0032 % if none, return ''
0033 if isempty(locs)
0034   f = '';
0035   file = x;
0036 % otherwise, return entire string up to the last /
0037 else
0038   if locs(end)==length(x)  % ignore trailing /
0039     x = x(1:end-1);
0040     locs = locs(1:end-1);
0041   end
0042   if isempty(locs)
0043     f = '';
0044     file = x;
0045   else
0046     f = x(1:locs(end));
0047     file = x(locs(end)+1:end);
0048   end
0049 end
0050 
0051 % swap the output?
0052 if flag
0053   [f,file] = swap(f,file);
0054 end