Sounds like a job for an array or an arrayList.

Pseudo-code

1. float[] someArray;
2. ArrayList someArrayList = new ArrayList();
3. 
   
4. // when parsing data
5. // ideally at some point during the parsing you know the expected number of incoming values
6. someArray = new float[100];
   
7. someArray[i] = someIncomingValue;
8. etc.
9. 
   
10. // when parsing data
11. // for full flexibily with adding/removing values an arraylist is even better
    
12. someArrayList.add(someIncomingValue);
13. etc.

Or even better, a dictionary.  If you're finding yourself needing to hacky things like changing the access of variables then there's a good chance your approach is wrong.

Have a look here for an actual answer to your question if you decide that variable access modification is really what you need.

Thank-you both of you. Jonny, I think you're right. That seems a little too extreme, but wow that's handy to know. :)

I could use an array! The setup more precisely though is that the external file is a csv with a header listing all column names. I would ideally like to be able to dynamically assign internal variable names the same as the column names listed in the header. The problem is that there could be any number of columns and they could be in any order. That's just the ideal, though. I *can* control the data and if it has to be that way, so be it. :) But finding out if there was a non-hacky method to achieve the complete redundance I was after was what I wanted to know.

Thank-you!

Ok. If you want to retreive an object/data based on a name (such as a column name) then you could look into a HashMap. You could stores all the values for a column in an ArrayList and then place that and the other ArrayLists in the HashMap with the column name as a key. Maximum flexibility with regard to number of columns, names of columns and number of entries per column.

Then you could later do something like myHashMap.get("columnName").get(10);

amnon, thank-you again. I've never used a hashmap (And honestly never cared too much what the differences between a hashmap/hash table and an array are) But I'll follow the trail you provided to start and do some reading on your advice :)

It might not be obvious to manage these collections of collections, so I made a little demo:

// Let say it is the result of loadStrings()
String[] loadStringResult =
{
  "Alpha,Beta,Gamma", // Header
  "Blue,France,42", // Stupid data
  "Red,China,8",
};

HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>> data = new HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>>();

// Process header
String[] headers = split(loadStringResult[0], ",");
for (String header : headers) // For each header name
{
  // Create an entry in the hash map with a fresh new array list
  data.put(header, new ArrayList<String>());
}

for (int i = 1; i < loadStringResult.length; i++) // Note I start at 1
{
  String[] items = split(loadStringResult[i], ",");
  int n = 0;
  for (String item : items) // For each column
  {
    // Get the nth header and use it to fetch the corresponding list
    ArrayList<String> column = data.get(headers[n++]);
    column.add(item);
  }
}

// Get a sample
ArrayList<String> x = data.get(headers[1]);
println(x);

exit();