How can I check the contents of a MAT-file in MATLAB without loading it?

Question

I have a large structure in a MAT-file. I want to check if a specific field is present in the structure without loading the MAT-file since the contents are very large a

Answer 1

To check the contents of a MAT file without loading it, use:

vars = whos('-file','test.mat')
ismember('fieldname', {vars.name})