Access java variable by string name

Question

Is there a way in java to set a variable by a string name like the $$ option in php?
What I'm trying to do is set a global String variable from within a loop of key-value pairs. I want to be able to set each variable dynamically without knowing the variable name.
Instead of doing this:
this.myVar = newValue;
I want to do something like:
this.{"variableName"} = newValue;
where the string inside the {""} is unknown and comes from data within the loop and one iteration may be "myVar".

Answer 1

jhowley wrote:
Well, I kind of thought that wasn't possible and a Map was my backup plan anyway. Thanks for the info.its totally possible with Reflection (but you should use a Map).
read: [getField(String)|http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/Class.html#getField(java.lang.String)]
import java.lang.reflect.*;
public class ReflectionDemo{
public static void main(String[] args){
     new ReflectionDemo().start();
public void start(){
     try{
     Class c = this.getClass();
     Field f = c.getDeclaredField("myField");
     int i = f.getInt(this);
     System.out.println(i);
     } catch(Exception e){
     e.printStackTrace();
     int myField = 11;
}