Matlab - how can I label variables? - matlab

Question

I have a matrix with population data and a vector that makes reference to each type of data example, age, country, gender, height, ethnicity.
I need to in a part of the code, use those strings as char 1x1. I thougnt in making some relation as
variables = {'age', 'a';
'gender', 'b';
'country', 'c';
'height', 'd';
'ethnicity', 'e'};
I would like something that any time I use the leters, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd' or 'e', the code understands that I want to use 'age', 'gender', 'country', 'height' or 'ehtnicity', respectively.
how could I do this?
thanks!

Answer 1

You have two options:
A more common method is to use a structure:
codes.a = 'age';
codes.b = 'gender';
...
So anytime you need a code, just get the value of the equivalent structure member:
character_you_typed = 'a';
getfield(codes, character_you_typed)
or (based on #Amro 's comment below):
codes.(character_you_typed)
This method does not restrict you to one-character keys. Another method is to use the recently added Map container with a 'char' key:
codes = containers.Map('KeyType', 'char');
codes('a') = 'age';
codes('b') = 'gender';
...
Then:
character_you_typed = 'a';
codes(character_you_typed)
The second method looks much better, but unfortunately you are restricted to a single character for the keys.