Creating variable from other variables in MATLAB: code with reproduction - matlab

Question

I have a question regarding this type of code:
First = ["A","B","C"];
Second = ["D","E","F"];
Group = ["First", "Second"];
for gr = Group
current = gr;
for number = 1:numel(current)
my_variable(number) = current(number);
end
end
That's the reproduction of my problem. In this case my_variable is equal to "First" for example. But I wanted it to be "A" then "B" then "C" from variable named "First".
For my understanding this code should do the following:
1st step: for gr = Group means gr = First to Second
2nd step: current = gr; means current = First
3rd step: for number = 1:numel(current) means number = 1:3 (number of elements in "First")
4th step: my_variable(number) = current(number); means my_variable = First(1) = "A"
Instead of that I get my variable equal to "First" or "Second".
I hope you understand what I mean.
P.S. the string arrays I'm using with double quotes (" ") like First = ["A","B","C"]; are only available in Matlab 2016b or later.

Answer 1

You should use cell arrays to do this:
first = {'A','B','C'};
second = {'D','E','F'};
group = {first, second};
for group_ind = 1:numel(group)
current = group{group_ind};
my_variable = cell(1,numel(current));
for number = 1:numel(current)
my_variable{number} = current{number};
disp(my_variable)
end
end
For first and second, you can also use the string arrays:
first = ["A","B","C"];
second = ["D","E","F"];
group = {first, second};
for group_ind = 1:numel(group)
current = group{group_ind};
my_variable = strings(1,numel(current));
for number = 1:numel(current)
my_variable(number) = current(number);
disp(my_variable)
end
end