MATLAB: Using string saved variables for calculations

num2strstring

If I have variables with varying names (Z_1,Z_2,Z_3,etc) with assigned values of z made by num2str as shown below;
for v=1:18
    eval(['Z_' num2str(v) '=z'])
    end
and each has stored a matrix inside (Z_1 is a 10×10 matrix, and so on for each Z_n), and I want to sum up the matrices without having to enter TotalZ=Z_1+Z_2+Z_3…Z_18, is there any quick way of referring to the variables? I mean, something of the kind of :
TotalZ=sum('Z_'num2str(v))
 I can't seem to find a way of using those stored variables to o anything, if I dont enter them directly by hand. I need to know the right way of referring to the variables for using them for any calculation. Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

Hi,
generally speaking you can do the same as before:
TotalZ = 0;
for v=1:18
  TotalZ = TotalZ + eval(['Z_' num2str(v)]);
end
But I would suggest to use cellarrays directly:
allZ = cell(1, 18);
for v=1:18
all{v} = z;
end
Working with the cell array later will be much easier, e.g.,
allZ3D = cat(3, allZ{:});
TotalZ = sum(allZ3D, 3);
Titus
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