pgfplots from file: search path, looking for \graphicspath equivalent

Question

I have recently discovered the wonderful pgfplots package and I've started coding my Python code to output tabular data of whatever is plotted (at least for simple plots). In my LaTeX source code, I use plot file {../datafiles/data.dat}; and similar commands extensively. All my external figures (yes, I still have some) are in a separate directory that I specify in my preamble using \graphicspath{...}. Is there any equivalent path that TikZ and pgfplots use to search for data files?

I have difficulties searching for an answer to this question, because the word path has such a specific meaning in a TikZ context. I'm using PGF 2.10 and pgfplots 1.5. I checked in the PGF manual (section 19.4, page 224) and in the pgfplots manual (section 4.2.2, page 25–26) but did not find anything relevant.

MWE:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}
\addplot plot file {somedata.dat};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

where somedata.dat contains:

1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10

Sorry for not adding a MWE earlier, I figured it wasn't needed because the question was obvious.

Answer 1

This feature has been added to the PGFPlots v1.13 with the key table/search path which works for \addplot table {<file>}; (as the key name suggests). It can be found in the manual in section 4.3.2 on page 52.

\begin{filecontents*}{plots/data/somedata.dat}
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
\end{filecontents*}
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
    \pgfplotsset{
        table/search path={plots/data},
    }
\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \begin{axis}
            \addplot table {somedata.dat};
        \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}