Matlab equivalent code for file

Question

Can I replace ~files(i).isdir for ~isdir('files(i)')?

What does the . do in the code? Is it like an abbreviation of code?

Answer 1

It seems that "files" is an array of structures, and isdir is a variable under the structure (read MATLAB documentation for further informations about structures) at position i, so you can't replace the instruction with the function-like one.