Use system instead for command form to evaluate variables in building the command string. ! ("Bang") interprets everything after it as character string so doesn't (as you've discovered) evaluate the variable before passing it to the OS.
>> f='c*.m'; % selected list of m-files in variable
>> [~,res]=system(['dir /b ' f]) % do a command; "dir" in the example...
res =
categorizeDesignated.m
currenteval.m
>>
ADDENDUM
Just do it again...
system(['report.bat ' res])
Or, more likely you'd want in real life something like
system(['report.bat <dir /b ' f])
Build the string that are going to submit just as you would any other string in Matlab; the limitation is that must(*) use the functional form instead of the bang operator to get a variable interpreted.
() without resort to evil *eval, which route I'm not going to suggest...albeit under some circumstances it is useful.
