How to combine struct names based on the first 'n' characters of name

I'm handling a great amount of test data, i import the filenames by using:

files = dir('*.xls');

After handling the data i end up with the 'files.name' list and a 'n x 1 matrix' which list a result:

Object1_test1.xls        3
Object1_test2.xls        6
Object2_test1.xls        4
Object3_test1.xls        5

I'm seeking a way to combine the data for each object (based on the first 'n' characters of the name) as seen below:

Object1        9
Object2        4
Object3        5

Answer 1

[Stephen23]

One approach:

fnm = {'Object1_test1.xls','Object1_test2.xls','Object2_test1.xls','Object3_test1.xls'};
val = [3,6,4,5];
tmp = regexp(fnm,'^[^_]+','once','match');
[unf,~,idx] = unique(tmp);
out = accumarray(idx,val(:))

out = 3×1

9 4 5

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If you need to perform this operation for several variables, put the data into one table and use the split-apply-combine workflow.