Matlab save table with different file names in different files - matlab

Question

I'm trying to read different files (txt) using a datastore and readtable in order to parse them and write them into a .mat file.
I'm using ds = datastore('*.txt').Files to get all the file names in a directory, then with a for loop I iterate through all the different files and I save them with different names.
However when I import the file in matlab they have all the same table name (dat).
Here's the code:
ds = datastore('*.txt');
fnames = ds.Files;
l = length(fnames);
for i = 1:l
dat = readtable(fnames{i}, 'Delimiter', '\t');
dat.Properties.VariableNames(1:2) = {'rpm', 'p_coll'};
dat = removevars(dat{i},20:width(dat));
save([fnames{i} '.mat'],'dat');
end
I tried using an array of dat but it didn't work. Any ideas?

Answer 1

As Sardar said there is no point in storing your data in L different variables. If you have to do so, there probably is a bigger problem in your program design. You'd better describe why you need that.
As an alternative, you can load those files in a single cell array:
L = 10;
for ii =1:L
dat = 2*ii;
fn = sprintf('dat%d.mat', ii);
save(fn, 'dat');
end
dats = cell(L, 1);
for ii=1:L
fn = sprintf('dat%d.mat', ii);
load(fn);
dats{ii} = dat;
end
Another option is to lad them in a struct:
dats = struct();
for ii=1:L
fn = sprintf('dat%d.mat', ii);
load(fn);
dats.(sprintf('dat%d', ii)) = dat;
end
I do not see any advantage in this method compared to cell array, but it's kind of funny.
Finally, if you really have a reason to store data in multiple variables, you can use eval:
for ii =1:L
dat = ii^2;
eval(sprintf('dat%d=dat;', ii));
fn = sprintf('dat%d.mat', ii);
save(fn, sprintf('dat%d', ii));
end
for ii=1:L
fn = sprintf('dat%d.mat', ii);
load(fn);
end