line = '*component(2,"Tissue212-Tissue001",1,2)'
temp = strrep(line, '*component(', '');
temp = strrep(temp, ')', '');
[a b c d] = strread(temp, '%u %q %u %u', -1, 'delimiter', ',');
temp = strrep(b, 'Tissue', '');
[g h] = strread(temp, '%q %q', -1, 'delimiter', '-')
this is matlab 2006b, so there is no option for rexexp 'split', so i can't do it like that.

the error i get is:
Second input must be a filename or string to parse. (at the last line)
i use the %q option to get rid of the double quotes.

i've also tried %s %s as the format value, to no success. the thing that's bothering me is that the value for "b" in the first strread in enclosed in single quotes whereas if i type a = 'asdf' in the cmdline, i get the output without the quotes.

also, there is a possibility that there will be an 'Exterior' keyword instead of the second tissue. how do i test for that?
i've seen the findstr function but how do i check if it returns an empty bracket?