MATLAB getting confused over backward slashes and forward slashes when using CD

I downloaded a MATLAB-based toolbox and in some parts of the code it tries to CD into folders. However, it returns an error like this

    Cannot CD to /Users/myname/toolbox\folder\subfolder

That's because the forward slashes and backward slashes are mixed together. I confirmed that the folders are in the right place and when I changed the path to /Users/myname/toolbox/folder/subfolder it does work. However, the code is filled with areas where the backward and forward slashes are mixed so it could be very difficult to fix all of them. Is there an easier solution?

[Stephen23]

"I downloaded a MATLAB-based toolbox and in some parts of the code it tries to CD into folders..."

Ugh, why use cd in a toolbox and force the code to be slower and harder to debug?

Did they use fullfile to generate the filepaths? Or hardcoded file separators?

"Is there an easier solution?"

Write to the author of that toolbox and tell them to use absolute/relative filenames.

Answer 1

[Sujit Muduli]

Hi Joe,

Please try changing the path from the command line and see if that is working.

cd '/Users/myname/toolbox\folder\subfolder'

Make sure the path name is inside single quotes, because it may be the case that some folder name could have spaces. The type of slash used doesn't matter usually in MATLAB. I would suggest in the scripts try to use relative paths as much as possible instead of using absolute path locations.

[Stephen23]

"I would suggest in the scripts try to use relative paths as much as possible instead of using absolute path locations."

Just to clarify: does this mean avoid using cd in this context?

[Walter Roberson]

Sujit, the type of slash does not matter for filenames in Windows but it does matter for Linux and Mac.