Refer to a loaded pgfplotstable via csname

Question

I would like to be able to use \csname to manipulate a table previously assigned to a macro via \pgfplotstableread. Attempting to use the macro indirectly, however, fails to compile. Here is a MWE:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\begin{document}
\pgfplotstableread{
  a  b
  1  4
  2  5
  3  6
}{\testTable}
% OK
%\pgfplotstabletypeset{\testTable}
% Fails to compile
\pgfplotstabletypeset{\csname testTable\endcsname}
\end{document}

When attempting to compile the version of the \pgfplotstabletypeset command that uses \csname, I get the following error:

! Undefined control sequence.
\testTable ->\pgfpl@@ 
                      {a}\pgfpl@@ {b}
l.18 ...stabletypeset{\csname testTable\endcsname}

Is it possible to refer to a loaded pgfplotstable in this way? I also tried replacing the command involving \csname with

\newcommand{\myTable}{\testTable}
\pgfplotstabletypeset{\myTable}

only to obtain the same sort of error message.

Answer 1

You can construct the csname before calling \pgfplotstabletypeset:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\begin{document}
\pgfplotstableread{
  a  b
  1  4
  2  5
  3  6
}{\testTable}
% OK
%\pgfplotstabletypeset{\testTable}
% Fails to compile
\expandafter\pgfplotstabletypeset\expandafter{\csname testTable\endcsname}
\end{document}