'load' function bug?

Hi all, these days I'm writing a function that take a strings as input, let call it 'var'; that string contain the path to a .mat file conteining a variable called 'mat'(it'a a NxM matrix). After I need to load the matrix saved into the .mat file, so i use the command

...
load 'var'
...

and the variable 'mat' appears on my workspace. Instead, if i use a different name for the input variable, for example 'var_1', or 'm_1' or something, it doesn't work!

...
??? Error using ==> load
Unable to read file m_1: No such file or directory
..

The code below is working

 ...
prova='C:filename.mat';
...
load 'prova'

inside my workspace I found tha matrix 'mat'

But if i rename the variable containing tha variable name as below

...
n=prova;
load 'n'
??? Error using ==> load
Unable to read file n: No such file or directory
...

Can anybody explain me this?! It's so annoyng because my function works only depending on the name of the input variable!

[Jan]

Btw. It is recommended not to use "var" as name of a variable, because this shaddows the built-in function VAR. Try this:

clear var

var(1:10)

var = rand(1, 10)

var(1:10)

Answer 1

[Jan]

Please read the documentation of load and save again. Look in the given examples to learn the difference between these possibilities

name = 'myfile'
save 'name'    % saves "name.mat"
save name      % saves "name.mat"
save(name)     % saves "myfile.mat"
save('name')   % saves "name.mat"

The non-functional form save name or the equivalent save 'name' is useful in the command window, but it confuses beginners frequently.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

load(prova)

and correspondingly

save(prova)

I think if you check you will find that you happen to have a file named var.mat

[Eugenio]

Sorry Walter, can you explain what you mean?

[Walter Roberson]

Do not use

load 'prova'

as your syntax. Instead, use

load(prova)

as your syntax.