Swap variable names and field names in a set of structs, so the field names become the struct names and vice versa? - matlab

Question

I have a set of structs that all have the same field names. For example structs A, B, and C all have field names name and section. Is there a way to rearrange this organization of data so that the data goes from:
A.name = 'bb';
A.section = 199;
B.name = 'joe';
B.section = 101;
C.name = 'rob';
C.section = 33;
to this:
name =
A: 'bb'
B: 'joe'
C: 'rob'
section =
A: 199
B: 101
C: 33
The current code I have, for example, operates like this:
% ORIGINAL STRUCTS
A.name = 'bb';
A.section = 199;
B.name = 'joe';
B.section = 101;
C.name = 'rob';
C.section = 33;
% CREATE VARIABLE NAMES FOR NEW STRUCTS
oldFNames = fieldnames(A); % old field names
oldVNames{1} = varname(A); % old variable names
oldVNames{2} = varname(B);
oldVNames{3} = varname(C);
% RESTRUCTURE STRUCTS (SWITCH FIELDNAMES AND VARIABLE NAMES)
for j = 1:length(oldFNames)
for k = 1:length(oldVNames)
eval([oldFNames{j} '.' oldVNames{k} ' = ' oldVNames{k} '.' oldFNames{j}]);
end
end
function out = varname(var) % Function to get variable name
out = inputname(1);
end
I find the hack to use the varname function to be not great, and I don't know whether there is a way to make it easily adaptable to the number of variables I have. Any input on how to simplify this procedure would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

It would be easier to do it all in a function, instead of just using a function to get the input variable name. Here's one solution:
function invert_struct(varargin)
varNames = arrayfun(#inputname, 1:nargin, 'UniformOutput', false); % Get input names
s = [varargin{:}]; % Combine inputs into a structure array
for f = fieldnames(s).' % Loop over fields
assignin('caller', f{:}, cell2struct({s.(f{:})}, varNames, 2));
end
end
And you would call it like so, with however many inputs you like:
invert_struct(A, B, C, ...);
The function uses assignin to create your new variables in the calling function and cell2struct to create a new structure from your field data and old variable names. Note that it also makes use of dynamic field names.