Explanation

MATLAB cannot perform any performance optimization on statements called by eval. This can cause code to run less efficiently. eval statements make code less clear and cause issues with sharing and maintaining code. One use of the eval function is to create sets of variables such as A1, A2, ..., An, but this approach does not use the array processing power of MATLAB.

Suggested Action

The preferred method is to store related data in a single array. If the data sets are of different types or sizes, use a structure or cell array.

For example, create a cell array that contains 10 elements, where each element is a numeric array:

Old	New
`eval(['A', int2str(n),' = magic(n)'])`	`numArrays = 10; A = cell(numArrays,1); for n = 1:numArrays A{n} = magic(n); end`

Access the data in the cell array by indexing with curly braces. For example, display the fifth element of A:

A{5}

ans =
    17    24     1     8    15
    23     5     7    14    16
     4     6    13    20    22
    10    12    19    21     3
    11    18    25     2     9

For more information see Alternatives to the eval Function.