Path names with spaces can cause issues in Matlab when trying to access files or directories. One way to work around this problem is to use the "escape character," which is the backslash (). The escape character is used to indicate that the following character should be treated as a literal, rather than as a special character. For example, if the path to a file is "C:\My Documents\data.mat," you would need to use the following syntax in your Matlab code: "C:\My\ Documents\data.mat" in order to access the file. This tells Matlab to treat the space as a literal character, rather than as a separator between different parts of the path.

Another option is to use single quotes (') instead of double quotes (") around the file path. This can also prevent issues with spaces in the path name. For example, the following code would work to access the same file as before:

I have many folder names with spaces in it, ie "red dog" --> "c:\red dog\" 

files = dir str = ['cd ', files(3).name] eval(str)

The execution returns the error do to the space:

>> eval(str) Error using cd Too many input arguments.

Answers: 

Do you have a reason for using eval? Try just 

cd(files(3).name);

Once you are in the correct directory, you can access your file without having to specify the full path name.

In conclusion, using the escape character, single quotes, fullfile function or changing the working directory are all effective ways to work around path names with spaces in Matlab. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it is important to choose the one that best fits your specific use case.