Assigning imported data to variable names (also imported)

Hello everyone,

I have a problem to assign names to data from imported excel file.

The data is exported from the file:

filename='Input parameters.xlsx';
sheet='Sheet1';
xlRange='A1:B21';
[VarVal VarNam]=xlsread('Input parameters.xlsx',sheet,xlRange)

The assignment I use is as follows:

vals=VarVal'
vars = VarNam'
for i = vals
    eval([vars{i} '=  vals(i)'])
end

Anyone knows how to fix it? Basically the purpose is that I would like to insert parameters into excel and then run my model in matlab without interfering in command window.

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

If you want to write efficient code that is easy to debug, read my answer below. If you wish to use eval to assign values to variables (for some reason beginners often want to do this), then read these first:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/304528-tutorial-why-variables-should-not-be-named-dynamically-eval

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/57445-faq-how-can-i-create-variables-a1-a2-a10-in-a-loop

A much better solution is to convert the data into a structure:

>> VarVal = [1,2,3];
>> VarNam = {'A','B','C'};
>> V = vertcat(VarNam,num2cell(VarVal));
>> S = struct(V{:});
>> S.A
ans =  1
>> S.C
ans =  3

If you have a newer MATLAB version, a table might be suitable too:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/readtable.html

See, MATLAB is simple once you stop using awful eval.

[chemeng100]

That is what I was searching for.

Thank you very much for quick response.