How to set a variable name in a code

Hi, I'm writing a code to make operations on imported external data coming from several measurement sites and plot results. I would write a code in a general form for further applications. The name of the site changes and then also the name of the variable, where the data are stored, changes.

% this simple code imports external data, filters them and plots the results

fid = fopen('ALCAMOLOG.csv');
alcamo = importdata('ALCAMOLOG.csv');
alcamo.data(alcamo.data == -999.25) = NaN;

alcamo_smoothed = struct('DEPTH',{alcamo.data(:,1)},...
                         'SP',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,2), 3, 71)},...
                         'GR',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,3), 3, 71)},...
                         'SN',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,4), 3, 71)},...
                         'LN',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,5), 3, 71)},...
                         'DT',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,6), 3, 71)},...
                         'RHOB',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,7), 3, 71)},...
                         'NEUT',{sgolayfilt(alcamo.data(:,8), 3, 71)});

figure(2); subplot(1,6,1);
plot(alcamo_smoothed.SP, alcamo_smoothed.DEPTH(:,1),'k-'); 
grid on; box on; xlabel([alcamo.colheaders{1,2}]); ylabel([alcamo.colheaders{1,1}]);
set(gca,'YDir','reverse');

As you see the word "alcamo" compares several time (I'm operating on this specific site). How can I write this code in a more general form so that when I import new data from another site and a different site name is set, I haven't to change in the code the word "alcamo" by hand to run correctly the code, i.e.:

fid = fopen('PIPPOLOG.csv');
pippo = importdata('PIPPOLOG.csv');
pippo.data(pippo.data == -999.25) = NaN;

pippo_smoothed = struct('DEPTH',{pippo.data(:,1)},...
                       'SP',{sgolayfilt(pippo.data(:,2), 3, 71)},...
                       'GR',{sgolayfilt(pippo.data(:,3), 3, 71)},...
                       'SN',{sgolayfilt(pippo.data(:,4), 3, 71)},...
                       'LN',{sgolayfilt(pippo.data(:,5), 3, 71)},...

and so on! A solution could be don't use in the code the site name and use a more general name always valid. Then, to work in a separate folder for each site. This is the simplest solution, but I would solve this issue in programming language. Any advice? Regards, Gianluca

Answer 1

[Jos (10584)]

Do not use variable names for variables. It is the content of a variable that should change, not its name!

filename = 'pippo' ; % you only have to change this!

% this is the same for all files
D = importdata([filename '.csv']);
D.OriginalFilename = filename ; % for later use
D(D.data==999) = NaN ;
D.SmoothData = struct ( . . . etc . . )
save([filename '_processed.mat'],'D')