Save command: List of variables to save can vary

Is it possible to have the SAVE command save only the variables listed in a string (or cell array)? I need to save different variables in files based on many conditions that come up in the code. Right now I use the "evil" eval-statement to construct a save command. This is an oversimplified example:

if condition1
  savelist = 'a b c f '
else
  savelist = 'd e f g '
end

%  More code and calculations ...
savelist = [savelist, 'w x y z '];

eval(['save ', filename, ' ', savelist])

Answer 1

[Andrew Newell]

Here is how to do it with cell arrays:

a = rand; d = rand; w=rand;
condition1=logical(randi([0 1],1)); % This is just for generating examples

if condition1
savelist = {'a'};
else
savelist = {'d'};
end

savelist = [savelist, {'w'}];
disp(savelist)

filename='testfile.mat';
save(filename,savelist{:})