Using for loop to output modified tables - how can I loop through names of tables I'm calling to be modified?

Hi,

I'm using a for loop to take a list of tables (x001, x002, x003, etc.), and then modify each one to include only certain columns. For example:

a = x001([1 5 10]);

How can I get a for loop to run through the subject numbers, so that the tables are all changed in this way (need same columns from every table, so just need to switch that x001 to x002, then x003, etc.).

I'm aware of how to call different file names like the code below.

for x=100 
tempData=importdata([‘output_’ num2str(x) ‘.csv’]);
end

But, I am not sure how to do this with variables where my first reference to it is calling a part of it. Hope that makes sense. Could I do something like

subject_list = {'008', '009', '010', '011', '012', '013','014','015','016','017','018',...
    '019','020','021','022','023','024','025','026','027'};

numsubjects  = length(subject_list); % number of subjects

for s=1:numsubjects

tableName = ([x num2str(subject_list)])

a = tableName([1 5 10]);

end

Thank you!

Answer 1

[Jan]

Do not do this.

It is a massive drawback to hide an index in the name of a variable. See http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/57445-faq-how-can-i-create-variables-a1-a2-a10-in-a-loop.

Instead of calling the variable "x008", create a struct array:

x(1).Key   = '008';
x(1).Value = 'The value of your variable';
x(2).Key   = '010';
x(2).Value = 'Another value';

Then strcmp helps to find the index corresponding to a certain key:

index = find(strcmp({x.Key}, '008'})
x(index)