Get output variable name from load function load in Matlab -

i want load ascii-file using syntax:

load('10-may-data.dat') 

the returned output variable name should x10_may_data.

is there way variable name in matlab? if want use regular expression translation, how can it? example, put x before underscores or digits in filename , replace other non-alphabetic characters underscores.

the who function returns names of variables in matlab. has built-in regexp selecting items:

x10_may_data = [1 2 3]; save x10_may_data.mat x10_may_data clear load x10_may_data.mat w = who('-regexp','x*')  w =       'x10_may_data' 

you can operate on w{1} substitutions want. example, use strrep function simple modifications of string:

newvar = strrep(w{1},'may','latest')  newvar =  x10_latest_data 

for more complex modifications, use regexp or regexprep. when have new name, can assign eval:

eval([newvar '=' w{1}])  % typing "x10_latest_data = x10_may_data"  x10_latest_data =      1     2     3 

[edit] ps agree comments eval bad idea; need something done :) alternative approaches, see matlab page on topic.