Generate variable names and assign them to workspace variables

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Fadi Kahwash on 12 Jul 2013

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https://ch.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/81879-generate-variable-names-and-assign-them-to-workspace-variables

Hello, I have data files in the workspace and I want to take parts of them and combine them in a certain order. the files are named according to a rule for example "p12_13_50" which means aerofoil 12 and 13 with 50% blending.

I want to combine the first, second and third column from 11 such files each into one variable.

I was able to generate the variable name using strcat as follows

af1 = 12;
af2 = 13;
polar_name = {};
for ii = 1:10:101
    var_name = strcat('p',num2str(af1), '_',num2str(af2), '_', num2str(ii-1));
    polar_name = [polar_name; var_name];
    clear var_name
end

The trick is, how do I use the names that I have generated in calling part of the workspace variables with the same name. I have tried eval but it recognize the variable as a string. I also tried evalin and assignin without success.

If you think of other way to achieve the same goal I would be glad to try it as well.

Thanks in Advance

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Answer 1

Iain on 12 Jul 2013

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https://ch.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/81879-generate-variable-names-and-assign-them-to-workspace-variables#answer_91571

This is the answer to the question you've asked:

 generated_variable_name = 'Big_whatever'; %(needs to be in your working workspace
 eval([generated_variable_name ' = 5;'])
 evalin('base',[generated_variable_name ' = 5;']);
 assignin('base',generated_variable_name, 5)

The right answer is to use a structure or a cell array, as it is WAY more generic:

 structure(2).filename  = 'p12_13_50'
 structure(2).aerofoils = [12 13];
 structure(2).blending  = 50;
 structure(2).data      = ...
 cell{2}{1} = 'p12_13_50';
 cell{2}{2} = [12 13];
 cell{2}{3} = [50];
 cell{2}{4} = .... ;