How can I create and save a variable that contains filename ?

I would like to create and save a variable that contains the file number given in a string, for example:

file='1';
 a=[1 2 3];
name = ['a' num2str(file), '=a'];
eval(name);

which creates a1=[1 2 3]

How can I now save this variable a1 in a mat file (without need to write a1, because this should work in a for loop, where 1 in incremented) ? Thanks

Answer 1

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

name='a1'
save('yourmatfile',name)

But this is not a good idea, if you explain what you want to achieve, maybe there are better ways.

[Paola]

Consider the following example:

b=[1 2 3];
for ii=1:5
      a=b*ii;
      name = ['a' num2str(ii), '=a']
      eval(name);

      filename=['test' num2str(ii) '.mat'];
      save(filename, 'xxx')
  end

test1.mat, that should contain a1, then test2.mat should contain a2 and so on. what should xxx be to do that ?

[Azzi Abdelmalek]

b=[1 2 3];
for ii=1:5
    a=b*ii;
    name = [sprintf('a%d',ii) '=a']
    eval(name);
    filename=sprintf('test%d.mat',ii);
    save(filename, sprintf('a%d',ii))
end

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

see the FAQ: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_create_variables_A1.2C_A2.2C....2CA10_in_a_loop.3F