Converting Variable Name to String but Keeping Data!

Hi Folks! I would like to print a variable, and obviously its data, to the command window after my script finishes running. My variable is a not at all descriptive because it is nice and short so it makes my code look cleaner. However, when I print to the command window, I would like to print this variable as a better name, but having it consist of the same data to show... Any ideas on how to do this?

Thanks, Sean

[Guillaume]

" My variable is a not at all descriptive because it is nice and short so it makes my code look cleaner."

That does not make your code cleaner, that makes your code unreadable. Self-documenting variable names is an important part of good code.

[John D'Errico]

Sadly, I cannot upvote a comment. Could I do so, I would do that for the comment by Guillaume though.

[Star Strider]

My sentiments exactly!

[Sean Farrell]

With all due respect, I don't think you understood the question. I have my code documented, but I want a more descriptive variable name to be outputted to the command window for the user's reference. It would be less than ideal for the user to sift through the script, reading commented sections, to understand what each variable name is. Furthermore, since my code is extensive, short essays for variable names is also less than ideal.

[Guillaume]

Oh, I understood the question perfectly well and had nothing to add to Star's and Walter's answer which showed exactly how to do what you want.

I wanted to comment solely on the portion I quoted, not the the general question. Having had to track down an obscure race condition in some colleague's code, my work was greatly hindered by having to remember what these "nice and short variable names" were meant to represent. If I don't have to engage my brain to try remember what's in each variable, I can focus it more on what the code is actually doing. (That particular case was not helped by the fact that these variables were also global. Arghhh!)

Think of us old people going senile ;)

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

I’m not certain what you want, but fprintf or sprintf are possibilities:

a = rand;
asq = a^2;
fprintf('a_squared = %f\n', asq)

[Walter Roberson]

disp('a_squared =')
disp(asq)

[Sean Farrell]

Thank you Star Strider and Walter, this is exactly what I was looking for!

[Star Strider]

Our pleasure!