pgfplotstable: How to use 'pgfplotstablename'

Question

How can I use \pgfplotstablename in this case

\pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]1}\of\TestTable instead of \TestTable?

MWE:

\documentclass[border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}

\pgfplotstableread[header=false]{
A   B
1   2
0   2
1   0
0   2
0   2
1   0
}\TestTable

\begin{document}

\pgfplotstabletypeset[string type,
every head row/.style={output empty row},% no header 
% works  funny (with speech mark...)
columns/0/.style = {
string replace={0}{\pgfplotstablename\pgfplotsretval},
},
% works not
columns/1/.style = {
string replace={0}{%\pgfplotstablename % \pgfplotsretval
\pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]1}\of\TestTable %<-- use tablename here
\pgfplotsretval
}
},
]{\TestTable}


%Test:  \pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]0}\of\TestTable \pgfplotsretval
%\pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]1}\of\TestTable \pgfplotsretval
\end{document}

Answer 1

Crossposting my answer from TeXwelt.de below.

---

When I inspect the definition of \pgfplotstablename using \show\pgfplotstablename, then I find in the log

> \pgfplotstablename=macro:
->\TestTable .

That menas the \pgfplotstablename expands to \TestTable in one step. Now we only have to find out how to force this one expansion step somehow. This can be done either with \edef or in LuaTeX and starting with TeX Live 2019 using \expanded.

\expanded{%
  \noexpand\pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]1}\noexpand\of\expandafter\noexpand\pgfplotstablename
}%

The leading \noexpand in front of every macro inhibits expansion. The construction \expandafter\noexpand\pgfplotstablename leads TeX to jump over \noexpand and expanding \pgfplotstablename once. After that we have \noexpand\TestTable and all is good.

\documentclass[border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}

\pgfplotstableread[header=false]{
A   B
1   2
0   2
1   0
0   2
0   2
1   0
}\TestTable

\begin{document}

\pgfplotstabletypeset[string type,
every head row/.style={output empty row},% keinen header anzeigen
% works  funny (with speech mark...)
columns/0/.style = {
  string replace={0}{\pgfplotstablename\pgfplotsretval},
},
% works not
columns/1/.style = {
  string replace={0}{%\pgfplotstablename % \pgfplotsretval
    \expanded{%
      \noexpand\pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]1}\noexpand\of\expandafter\noexpand\pgfplotstablename
    }%
    \pgfplotsretval
  }
},
]{\TestTable}

% Test:  \pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]0}\of\TestTable \pgfplotsretval
% \pgfplotstablegetelem{0}{[index]1}\of\TestTable \pgfplotsretval
\end{document}