How to generate variable names from a cell array

Hello, all. This is an instance where plenty of documentation exists, yet I am still having trouble interpreting it for my purposes.

If I have an cell array of the following form:

CellArray = {
'variable1' 'hello';
'variable2' 'world';
'variable3' 3.14159;
'variable4' [42 24]
};

How does one generate variables in the MATLAB workspace, so that:

 variable1 = 'hello'
 variable2 = 'world'
 variable3 = 3.14159
 variable4 = [42 24]

The second column of the cell array might be other types of variables as well (i.e. CellArray{1,2} might be numerical instead of a string, depending on my usage task).

Also note that the older genvarname() function will be removed in upcoming releases of Matlab, and the documentation says to use MATLAB.LANG.MAKEVALIDNAME and MATLAB.LANG.MAKEUNIQUESTRINGS instead.

If you anyone could propose a snippet of code that would be able to do this for me, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Stephen23]

Just use a structure: this would be much simpler and more reliable than any hack code you could write that creates those variables names dynamically.

>> C = {
'variable1' 'hello';
'variable2' 'world';
'variable3' 3.14159;
'variable4' [42 24]
};
>> Ct = C';
>> S = struct(Ct{:});
>> S.variable1
ans = hello
>> S.variable4
ans =
   42   24

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/string-evaluation.html

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

[Matt C]

I guess my initial argument was "ya, I know this a bad idea but I want to do it anyway". Judging by the amount of published material on why its not a good idea, I guess I'll just have to accept that my code shouldn't contain dynamically-created variables after all...

Thanks

[Walter Roberson]

A structure would probably work well for you.

Answer 2

[Walter Roberson]

Don't do that.

http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_create_variables_A1.2C_A2.2C....2CA10_in_a_loop.3F