MATLAB: How to load a .mat file into a function when the file is named as a number string which is represented by a variable in the workspace from a previous process

loadmatvariable

I have a script which analyses a photograph and saves the data into a .mat file. Each photograph in the folder is named a certain number, and the script prompts the user to input the reference number associated with their photograph of choice. This is then stored in a variable 'ref' as a string: e.g ref = '850'.

The script then proceeds to save the data in this case as 850.mat.

I then want to use this in a function, so to load the correct .mat file, I have been trying to load it in the following way:

load ref.mat – In this way, the previously stored ref variable which is present in the workspace as '850' would essentially load 850.mat, corresponding to the mat file I created previously.

Unfortunately this doesn't work and nothing I have tried (spent 3 hours searching for a solution) seems to work. The code is shown below:

*ref = num2str(input('Please enter reference number: '));*

After some calculations and manipulation…

*save(ref, 'timedata', 'tempdata');*

saving what in the previous example was 850.mat

If i now want to select that file to load into a function, what would I type so it always calls upon the file corresponding to the ref variable?

Thanks for your help in advance, and I hope I explained the question well enough!

Nik

Best Answer

 S = load([ref,'.mat'])

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