--- a
+++ b/MATLAB/private/getMatStructColumn.m
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+%-------------------------------------------------------------------------%
+% Copyright (c) 2019 Modenese L.                                          %
+%                                                                         %
+% Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");         %
+% you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.        %
+% You may obtain a copy of the License at                                 %
+% http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.                             %
+%                                                                         %
+% Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software     %
+% distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,       %
+% WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or         %
+% implied. See the License for the specific language governing            %
+% permissions and limitations under the License.                          %
+%                                                                         %
+%    Author:   Luca Modenese                                              %
+%    email:    l.modenese@imperial.ac.uk                                  %
+% ----------------------------------------------------------------------- %
+%
+% Function that allows to retrieve the value of a specified variable whose
+% name is specified in var_name.
+%
+% INPUTS
+% struct:   is a structure with fields 'colheaders', the headers, and 'data'
+%           that is a matrix of data.
+% var_name: the name of the variable to extract.
+%
+% OUTPUTS
+% var_value: the column of the matrix correspondent to the header specified
+%               in input as var_name.
+%
+%
+% written: Luca Modenese, July 2014
+% last modified:
+% Header (February 2018, LM)
+% 29 Nov 2018: renamed, recommented, added to MFD Matlab version (LM).
+% ----------------------------------------------------------------------- %
+function var_value = getMatStructColumn(struct, var_name)
+
+% gets the index of the desired variable name in the colheaders of the
+% structure from where it will be extracted
+var_index = strncmp(struct.colheaders, var_name, length(var_name));
+
+if sum(var_index) == 0
+    %error(['getValueColumnForHeader.m','. No header in structure is matching the name ''',var_name,'''.'])
+    display(['getValueColumnForHeader.m','. No header in structure is matching the name ''',var_name,''''])
+    var_value = [];
+    return
+end
+
+% uses the index to retrieve the column of values for that variable.
+var_value = struct.data(:,var_index);
+
+end