accessing variable names of cell arrays in another function

Hi,

I have a function that has say 3 variables of different size (and this could vary for different input files):

EvVel = 301 x 12

EvAcc = 300 x 12

EvJerk = 299 x 12

I have assigned each of them to a cell array as I have to pass them to a function that generates reports:

my_array{1} = EvVel;
my_array{2} = EvAcc;
my_array{3} = EvJerk;
temp = repgen(my_array)

function repgen(my_array)
plot(my_array{1});
title('EvVel') %I am having problem accessing the variable name here as I am passing cell array
end

[Stephen23]

"I am having problem accessing the variable name here as I am passing cell array"

Once you put the data into a cell array then any possible names of variables used for those arrays are no longer known. The best approach would be to store that meta-data as data in its own right and not put meta-data into variable names, then your code would be more generalized.

Answer 1

[Matt J]

My recommendation would be to pack the data in a struct array with an additional field for the name/title:

 my_struct = pack_in_struct(EvVel,EvAcc,EvJerk)

temp = repgen(my_struct);


function my_struct = pack_in_struct(varargin)

 for i=numel(varargin):-1:1

     my_struct(i).name=inputname(i);
     my_struct(i).data=varargin{i};
     
 end

end

function temp = repgen(my_struct)

    for i=1:numel(my_struct)
     figure;   
     plot(my_struct(i).data);
     title(my_struct(i).name);
    end

    temp=...
    
end