array splits into more variables when reading from table

I have a problem with creating the same table as I write, if one of the variables is an array.

I have this:

T= {[1,2,3], 10, 20, 30, 'string'};

T = array2table(T,'VariableNames',{'positions' 'length' 'height' 'depth' 'name'});

   writetable(T,file1.csv,'Delimiter',' ');

Then I read the file with:

data=readtable(file1.txt,'Delimiter',' ');

Then I want to assign the data to its respective variables.

positions=data.positions;
length=data.beamLength;
height=data.loadPositions;
depth=data.loadForces;
name=data.beamSupport;

The problem is that when there is an array, the variable splits into more variables. for example, the positions variable splits into positions_1, positions_2, positions_3.

I get an error saying that positions is undefined, because now the array isn't under 1 variable called positions. I need to assign the array. if positions is 1 value there is no problem.

I have tried with cell2mat, table, many things but it just won't work.

Answer 1

[Peter Perkins]

This is documented behavior of writetable. Can you not simply combine them back after reading? For example:

data.Positions = [data.Positions_1 data.Positions_2 data.Positions_3];
data.Positions_1 = []; % remove single columns
data.Positions_2 = [];
data.Positions_3 = [];

[Ayhan Erman]

The problem is that the size of the array can vary, its not always 3 it should work no matter how big it is. The whole array should be assigned to the positions variable, with the square brackets.

[Peter Perkins]

It would not be hard to find all the variables named 'Positions_n" using strcmp on the VariableNames property, group them into one variable in the table, and delete the rest using something like

t(:,varsToDelete) = [];

Hope this helps.