Making a filename into a variable

I have a script where I load in some data with a function. "function MyScript('file1.dat','file2.dat','file3.dat')"

I do some calculations so I have the two numbers I want in a vector X. Now I want Matlab to write:

"Calculated file2 = X(1)"

"Calculated file3 = X(2)"

with the filename as text, and showing the value of X.

[Jan]

The question is not clear: "function MyScript(file1.dat,file2.dat,file3.dat)" is not valid Matlab-syntax. Do you mean

function MyScript(file1, file2, file3)

which is called as:

MyScript('file1.dat', 'file2.dat', 'file3.dat')

? Where should "Calculated file2 = X(1)" appear, when you want to "write" it? and which filename should appear as "text"?

Please edit your question and do not post the important details as a comment. Thanks.

[Alexander Kjærsgaard]

Hi, the function part was a typo on my part (fixed). So I want a variable called "Calculated file2", and file2 is of course the name of my file2 and I want it to work, so when I in my script write Calculated file2 I want it to show the value of X(1).

So when I run the script, it will show up in my command window like:

Calculated file2 = 
      X(1)

With the filename of file2, which is all text, and the value of X(1)

[Adam]

You can't have spaces in variable names and it is not advisable to name variables sequentially after files or other numbered inputs.

An array works far better.

doc sprintf

should be used to print things out to the screen too. Variable names are internal to a function, they should certainly have names that make sense to the programmer, but they shouldn't ever require to be exposed to an external user of the function. Using sprintf you can put together text on the screen saying whatever you want, without being constrained trying to name variables to achieve it.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

You cannot have the function declaration line be this:

function MyScript(file1.dat,file2.dat,file3.dat)

The .dats are not allowed. And MyScript is a bad name for a function since it's a function and not a script. You can do this

function MyFunction(file1, file2, file3)

Inside that function you can compute X and print it out to the command window like this:

fprintf('Calculated %s = %f\n', file2, X(1));
fprintf('Calculated %s = %f\n', file3, X(2));