MATLAB: Acquiring variable names to be used in fieldnames

datadata importfieldnamesMATLABstructuresvariablesworkspace

Hi, I have a structure (abcSTRUCTUREdef) in my work space containing a list of variables. I use the following function to get all the varibles from the structure as a workspace variables.
%%%%%%%%%%Original Code %%%%%%%%%%%
fields = fieldnames( abcSTRUCTUREdef, '-full'); % Find out how many there are - for our loop.

numberOfFields = length(fields);
for f = 1 : numberOfFields;
thisField = fields{f};
commandLine = sprintf('%s = abcFIELDdef.%s', thisField, thisField);
eval(commandLine);
end
% Release temporary variables.
clear('f', 'thisField', 'numberOfFields');
clear('fields', 'commandLine');
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
However I would like to automate the whole process by just using it as a script where it acquires the structure name from the work space such that, (for example)
varNames = who;
structName = varNames{1,1};
fields = fieldnames( structName, '-full'); % Find out how many there are - for our loop.
commandLine = sprintf('%s =' structName '.%s', thisField, thisField);
However everytime I attempt this, I get an error saying that "Undefined function 'fieldnames' for input arguments of type 'char'."
This is the end of a long script that pulls data out of folders. I would really appreciate your help.
Many thanks.

Best Answer

"NAMES = fieldnames(S) returns a cell array of character vectors containing the names of the fields in structure S.
NAMES = fieldnames(Obj,'-full') returns a cell array of character vectors containing the name, type, attributes, and inheritance of the properties of Obj. Only supported for COM and Java objects."
You are trying to apply fieldnames to a cell array of strings that are variable names. There is no direct MATLAB operation to get the fieldnames of a variable whose name you know.
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