MATLAB: Best way to rename a loaded variable

loadnamespacevariable names

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])

Best Answer

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)

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Two mat files inside one mat file

Using load() returns a structure where all the variables inside the mat file are fields of this structure. You can extract them into their own variable if you want.

% Create mat file with two variables in the single mat file.
save(filename, 'myVar', 'otherVar');
% Show workspace panel:
workspace
% Get rid of them so we can test the recall
clear('myVar', 'otherVar');
% Recall it.
storedStructure = load(filename)
myVar = storedStructure.myVar;
otherVar = storedStructure.otherVar;

Understand now?

MATLAB: What is the best way to get the name of a variable in a script

No, there is no built-in function and your way is actually clever.

And yes, the fact that load and save require variable names instead of the variable themselves feels awkward and prevent easy refactorisation.

Of course, if you go your way, you have to make sure that the code that reads the mat file can cope with changing variable names

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: Two mat files inside one mat file

MATLAB: What is the best way to get the name of a variable in a script

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