Generate Field Names from Variables

This example shows how to derive a structure field name at run time from a variable or expression. The general syntax is

structName.(dynamicExpression)

where dynamicExpression is a variable or expression that, when evaluated, returns a string scalar. Field names that you reference with expressions are called dynamic fieldnames, or sometimes dynamic field names.

For example, create a field name from the current date:

currentDate = datestr(now,'mmmdd');
myStruct.(currentDate) = [1,2,3]

If the current date reported by your system is February 29, then this code assigns data to a field named Feb29:

myStruct = 
    Feb29: [1 2 3]

The dynamic fieldname can return either a character vector or a string scalar. For example, you can specify the field Feb29 using either single or double quotes.

myStruct.('Feb29')

ans =
     1     2     3

myStruct.("Feb29")

ans =
     1     2     3

Field names, like variable names, must begin with a letter, can contain letters, digits, or underscore characters, and are case sensitive. To avoid potential conflicts, do not use the names of existing variables or functions as field names.