automating many column headings in table

I have a 10000x400 matrix, plotphys, I want to turn into a table and add variable names to. I understand that can be done easily with the array2table function. However adding 400 headings is a lot; luckily I want the headings uniform in that they would be labeled

'phys state at tstep 1', 'phys state at tstep 2', ..., 'phys state at tstep 400'

Is there a way I can basically automate the creation of the headings?

I tried this

head = join("phys state at tstep " + [1:1:400]);

phystable = array2table(plotphys, 'VariableNames', {head});

but that did not work

[Stephen23]

"but that did not work"

Why did you place the string vector inside a scalar cell array?

H = "phys state at tstep "+(1:4);
T = array2table(rand(3,4), 'VariableNames',H)

T = 3x4 table
    phys state at tstep 1    phys state at tstep 2    phys state at tstep 3    phys state at tstep 4
    _____________________    _____________________    _____________________    _____________________

           0.76686                  0.75948                  0.54232                  0.41293       
           0.90409                  0.21268                  0.53549                 0.085162       
            0.6571                  0.58643                  0.12335                  0.27153       

[Kitt]

I realized soon after posting that mistake.

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

Perhaps something like this —

A = randn(5,10);
T1 = array2table(A, VariableNames=compose('physical state at step %4d',1:size(A,2)))

T1 = 5x10 table
    physical state at step    1    physical state at step    2    physical state at step    3    physical state at step    4    physical state at step    5    physical state at step    6    physical state at step    7    physical state at step    8    physical state at step    9    physical state at step   10
    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________    ___________________________

              0.31324                       -0.19263                        -2.0615                          1.232                         1.6304                        0.19888                       -0.32731                       -0.32365                         1.5333                       0.053857          
              -2.0234                         0.3876                       -0.24662                        0.13594                        -0.9818                        0.42247                        0.74257                         1.2531                        0.61061                        0.41824          
             -0.18386                       -0.80418                       -0.20084                       -0.13171                         0.9856                       -0.21378                       -0.45269                        0.65468                        0.92563                         0.2902          
             -0.11079                       -0.91047                        -1.0124                        -1.2269                        -1.5752                         -1.095                         1.2228                        0.19872                       -0.14992                       -0.43974          
              0.33118                        0.11423                       -0.59569                        -1.6067                        0.71875                        0.81034                       -0.16905                       -0.55092                         1.6094                       -0.43537          

.

[Walter Roberson]

The above uses column names 'physical state at step' followed by a 4 digit number that is right-justified with proceeding spaces -- which is certainly a valid option.

However, if you would prefer to use numbers that have no leading or trailing spaces, then

A = randn(5,10);
T1 = array2table(A, VariableNames="physical state at step "+(1:size(A,2)))

T1 = 5x10 table
    physical state at step 1    physical state at step 2    physical state at step 3    physical state at step 4    physical state at step 5    physical state at step 6    physical state at step 7    physical state at step 8    physical state at step 9    physical state at step 10
    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    ________________________    _________________________

             0.41494                     0.89537                     0.88637                     0.37133                      1.5025                    -0.23928                      0.2796                    -0.44267                      1.8121                    -0.69052         
             0.62765                    -0.29731                    -0.76789                     0.91972                    -0.33827                      1.2079                     0.75478                     0.45772                    -0.56342                     0.60929         
              1.6159                     0.27437                     -1.7607                     -0.1301                     0.91395                    -0.44986                    -0.50988                      1.0761                     -2.3117                      -1.326         
             -1.2961                      -1.055                    -0.42641                     0.51182                    -0.45815                     -1.1123                    -0.54415                      1.3361                     0.11306                     0.82966         
            -0.75849                    -0.42926                    0.011669                    -0.72911                     0.54695                    -0.47057                    -0.12814                    -0.25768                     0.59814                      1.5258         

[Kitt]

that worked perfectly!!!! Thank you so much :)