MATLAB: Inconsistency between “exist” function and “h5info” with long file path

existfileh5infolongMATLABmax_pathpaths

When a file path greater than 260 characters is specified, the "exist" function returns a positive value between 1 to 7. However, the "h5info" function is not able to read the file. Something like below fails because of this inconsistency:
if( exist(FILEPATH) ) 
     h5info(FILEPATH) 
end
Why does this inconsistency exist in MATLAB?

Best Answer

There is an inconsistency because "exist" is implemented by MathWorks and "h5info" is implemented on top of the third-party HDF5 library. MATLAB uses the Unicode versions of the Windows File System APIs which have a path limit of 32,767 characters.  The HDF5 library uses non-Unicode Windows APIs that have the path limit of 260 characters.
In order to avoid this situation, always have the path length for any file less than 260 characters.
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