How to read the symbols used in a variable name

Firstly, I am not certain this is even possible. What I am trying to do is read the individual characters of the name of the variable itself. IE, I have a variable named AB and a variable named AC. I want to define another variable as "A_first"(since A is the first variable in the list) that is equal to the value and AB and AC (in an array). Does anyone know if this is possible?

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

varname = @(v) inputname(1);

AB = 321;
varname(AB)  %would be 'AB'

However, what you are trying to do is seldom a good idea. See http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#How_can_I_create_variables_A1.2C_A2.2C....2CA10_in_a_loop.3F