that is because sample is undefined but sample1 sample2 and sample3 is what you defined. how you're calling out that last line you should build sample{} as a cell array
sample{1}='/home/examplefilename.DTA';
sample{2}='/home/examplefilename2.DTA';
sample{3}='/home/examplefilename3.DTA';
q = inputdlg('How many samples were loaded?');
nsamples = str2double(q);
for h=1:nsamples;
%redacted
disp(sample(h))
end
