MATLAB: Is it possible to dereference a string variable inside evalin()

Question

For example inside a function I have:

VAR_A = 'somevar_in_base';

% I want to test if 'somevar_in_base' by name exist in 'base' workspace

evalin('base', 'exist(''VAR_A'', ''var'')')

local = evalin('base', 'VAR_A');

Above lines do not extend "VAR_A". Is it possible to get what I want with minor changes or should I avoid coding this way?

Thanks,

Answer 1

evalin('base', sprintf('exist(''%s'', ''var''), VAR_A) )
evalin('base', VAR_A)

You could also consider

try
  local = evalin('base', VAR_A);
catch
  %do whatever as it does not exist
end