Reference table value in text

Question

I want to be able to reference a table value in my text (this is because I often update my tables, and then list the specific values in the text). Here is an example table I would use:

% Example Table
\documentclass{minimal}
\begin{filecontents*}{scientists.csv}
name,surname,age
Albert,Einstein,133
Marie,Curie,145
Thomas,Edison,165
\end{filecontents*}

% Read in Table


  \documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\begin{document}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
    col sep=comma,
    string type,
    columns/name/.style={column name=Name, column type={|l}},
    columns/surname/.style={column name=Surname, column type={|l}},
    columns/age/.style={column name=Age, column type={|c|}},
    every head row/.style={before row=\hline,after row=\hline},
    every last row/.style={after row=\hline},
    ]{scientists.csv}
\end{document}

I may want to be able to reference a given scientists age in the text by a reference of his/her name (ie,:)

Albert Einstein is \ref{albert} years old.  

Ideally, this would still be using pgfplotstable because it is how I currently read in many tables. Thanks,

Answer 1

Another alternative without modifying the data is via \pgfplotstablegetelem...\pgfplotsretval pair. Note that the row index starts from 0 instead of 1.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\begin{filecontents*}{scientists.csv}
name,surname,age
Albert,Einstein,133
Marie,Curie,145
Thomas,Edison,165
\end{filecontents*}

\pgfplotstableread[col sep=comma]{scientists.csv}\mytable
\def\getcell#1#2#3{
\pgfplotstablegetelem{#1}{#2}\of{#3}\pgfplotsretval%
}
\begin{document}
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
    string type,
    columns/name/.style={column name=Name, column type={|l}},
    columns/surname/.style={column name=Surname, column type={|l}},
    columns/age/.style={column name=Age, column type={|c|}},
    every head row/.style={before row=\hline,after row=\hline},
    every last row/.style={after row=\hline},
    ]\mytable

\bigskip

\getcell{0}{name}{\mytable} \getcell{0}{surname}{\mytable} is \getcell{0}{age}{\mytable} 
years old. \getcell{1}{name}{\mytable} \getcell{1}{surname}{\mytable} is 
\getcell{1}{age}{\mytable} years old. But \getcell{2}{name}{\mytable} 
\getcell{2}{surname}{\mytable} is still older, he is \getcell{2}{age}{\mytable} years old.

\end{document}

Answer 2

If it is an option to have your csv files suitably prepared, try this (here I bundled the filecontents thing and the table in one latex source)

\documentclass{article}

\makeatletter
\def\printandsetlabel#1#2#3{#2\setcounter{#1}{#2}%
 \protected@edef\@currentlabel
 {\csname p@#1\endcsname\csname the#1\endcsname}%
 \label{#3}}
\makeatother

\newcounter{age}
\newcommand*{\age}[2]{\printandsetlabel{age}{#1}{#2}}

\begin{filecontents*}{scientists.csv}
name,surname,age
Albert,Einstein,\age{133}{albert}
Marie,Curie,\age{145}{marie}
Thomas,Edison,\age{165}{thomas}
\end{filecontents*}

% Read in Table

\usepackage{pgfplotstable}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.7}

\begin{document}\thispagestyle{empty}\hsize8cm
\pgfplotstabletypeset[
    col sep=comma,
    string type,
    columns/name/.style={column name=Name, column type={|l}},
    columns/surname/.style={column name=Surname, column type={|l}},
    columns/age/.style={column name=Age, column type={|c|}},
    every head row/.style={before row=\hline,after row=\hline},
    every last row/.style={after row=\hline},
    ]{scientists.csv}

\bigskip
Albert Einstein is \ref{albert} years old and Marie Curie is \ref{marie} years
old. But Thomas Edison is still older, he is \ref{thomas} years old.
\end{document}