Best way to rename a loaded variable?
377 views (last 30 days)
Show older comments
Say that I have a .mat file that contains a variable, and I need to load this variable and give it a different name. Is there any other (/better) way to do this than:
load(myFile, myVar)
eval(['myNewname = ' myVar '; clear ' myVar])
?
2 Comments
Jan
on 27 Nov 2012
Where does this EVAL idea come from? Did you find EVAL in the documentation or did you see it in an example?
I ask, because it is such frequently suggested to avoid EVAL in this and other Matlab forums for so many years, that I actually expect, that this method should be extinct already.
Accepted Answer
Matt Fig
on 27 Nov 2012
Edited: Matt Fig
on 27 Nov 2012
Say you have the name of your variable:
VAR = 'S';
Now you want to load that variable, but with the name T. This method follows the general rule of thumb to avoid 'poofing' variables into the workspace.
T = load('myfile',VAR); % Function output form of LOAD
T = T.(VAR)
3 Comments
More Answers (2)
Image Analyst
on 18 Feb 2015
I'd do it this way:
storedStructure = load(myFile, 'myVar'); % Load in ONLY the myVar variable.
myNewname = storedStructure.myVar; % Assign it to a new variable with different name.
clear('storedStructure'); % If it's really not needed any longer.
Same net effect, it just uses the names Alec gave, and avoids dynamic structure fields, which are a bit advanced for beginners and not necessary here if you know the actual name.
0 Comments
Stefano Petrò
on 17 Mar 2022
A way to do this in a single command is
myNewname = getfield(load(myFile,myVar),myVar);
1 Comment
Steven Lord
on 17 Mar 2022
myVar = 'cdate';
C = load('census.mat', myVar).(myVar)
See Also
Categories
Find more on Matrix Indexing in Help Center and File Exchange
Community Treasure Hunt
Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!
Start Hunting!