Ahh I searched more rigorously and found this discussion:
Extracting everything from a structure
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Is there a built in function to extract everything from a structure?
For example if I have a structure:
struct_name.struct_element1 = 7;
struct_name.struct_element2 = 'abc';
Then later I want create variables for every element of struct_name but I'm unaware of how many elements are in "struct_name" and what their names are. I wrote the following code to solve my problem but I feel there might be a more elegant solution or a built in function:
struct_field_names = fieldnames(struct_name);
for k = 1:length(struct_field_names)
eval([struct_field_names{k}, ' =...
struct_name.',struct_field_names{k}, ';']);
end
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More Answers (3)
Jan
on 3 Jun 2011
Take this into account:
struct_name.struct_name = 1;
struct_name.data2 = 2;
Now the result of the creation of variables depends on the order of fields - a dangerous programming method.
So follow Oleg's link and avoid the dynamic creation of variables. Using ISFIELD and "dynamic fieldnames" is a more reliable technique.
Oleg Komarov
on 3 Jun 2011
Don't do that: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_create_variables_A1.2C_A2.2C....2CA10_in_a_loop.3F
Think if you had 20 fields in the struct, you would end up populating the workspace with 20 different variables which you will have eiter use by manual referencing or by using eval.
Both methods are nightmare, but you're welcome to abuse eval for some time. The problem comes later when you have to mantain your code.
4 Comments
Walter Roberson
on 3 Jun 2011
The problem isn't in creating the iterator variable: the problem would be that on the next iteration of the loop, the variable you _thought_ you copied from the structure would get overwritten.
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