setfield (MATLAB Functions)

Set field of structure array

Note setfield is obsolete and will be removed in a future release. Please use dynamic field names instead.

Syntax

s = setfield(s,'field',v)
s = setfield(s,{i,j},'field',{k},v)

Description

s = setfield(s,'field',v), where s is a 1-by-1 structure, sets the contents of the specified field to the value v. This is equivalent to the syntax
s.field = v.

s = setfield(s,{i,j},'field',{k},v) sets the contents of the specified field to the value v. This is equivalent to the syntax s(i,j).field(k) = v. All subscripts must be passed as cell arrays--that is, they must be enclosed in curly braces (similar to{i,j} and {k} above). Pass field references as strings.

Examples

Given the structure

mystr(1,1).name = 'alice';
mystr(1,1).ID = 0;
mystr(2,1).name = 'gertrude';
mystr(2,1).ID = 1;

You can change the name field of mystr(2,1) using

mystr = setfield(mystr,{2,1},'name','ted');
mystr(2,1).name

ans =

ted

The following example sets fields of a structure using setfield with variable and quoted field names and additional subscripting arguments.

class = 5;   student = 'John_Doe';
grades_Doe = [85,89,76,93,85,91,68,84,95,73];
grades = [];

grades = setfield(grades,{class}, student, 'Math',{10,21:30},...
                  grades_Doe);

You can check the outcome using the standard structure syntax.

grades(class).John_Doe.Math(10,21:30)

ans =

    85    89    76    93    85    91    68    84    95    73

setdiff set (serial)