select a character value to display depending on the value entered

I am trying to compress my code i have this currently the qo tells the script what values to ask for and assigns them to LoadType in the form [1,0,2,0,4,1] this is later used in a function with a switch and case. i am trying to compress the if LoadType(1) == 1; lt1 = string, etc. lt1 is later used in an fprintf statement. is there a way that a for loop could asign a string to lt1 depending on the value that is in LoadType(1). meaning if LoadType(1) is 1 is says constant or if its 3 it says Linear Ramp up. I am trying to do this for every spot that is greater then zero in the LoadType matrix. If i worded this weird Please ask for clarification.

qo = 2*[1,0,1,0,1,1];
LoadType = ones(size(qo));
    for k = find(qo)
      LoadType(k) = menu(sprintf('Choose %d-segment load function',k),...
            'Constant load' ,'Constant load on bottom',...
            'Linear ramp up','Linear ramp down'      ,...
            'Ramp up on Bottom','Ramp down on bottom',...
            'Half sinusoid load','Half sinusoid load on bottom', ...
            'Half cosine load','Half cosine load on bottom',...
            'Gradual point load of section of segment',...
            'Gradual point load of section of segment on bottom',...
            'Section of segment with Load',...
            'Section of segment with Load on bottom',...
            'Constant load with a segment of 0',...
            'Constant load with a segment of 0 on bottom',...
            'Trapezoidal distribution');

if LoadType(1) ==  1; lt1 = 'Constant';end 
if LoadType(1) ==  2; lt1 = 'Constant on below';end
if LoadType(1) ==  3; lt1 = 'Linear ramp up';end
if LoadType(1) ==  4; lt1 = 'Linear ramp down';end 
if LoadType(1) ==  5; lt1 = 'Linear ramp up on bottom';end
if LoadType(1) ==  6; lt1 = 'Linear ramp down on bottom';end 
if LoadType(1) ==  7; lt1 = 'Half sinusoid load';end
if LoadType(1) ==  8; lt1 = 'Half sinusoid load on bottom';end
if LoadType(1) ==  9; lt1 = 'Half cosine load';end
if LoadType(1) == 10; lt1 = 'Half cosine load on bottom';end
if LoadType(1) == 11; lt1 = 'Gradual point load of section of segment';end
if LoadType(1) == 12; lt1 = 'Gradual point load of section of segment on bottom';end
if LoadType(1) == 13; lt1 = 'Section of segment with Load';end
if LoadType(1) == 14; lt1 = 'Section of segment with Load on bottom';end
if LoadType(1) == 15; lt1 = 'Constant load with a segment of 0';end
if LoadType(1) == 16; lt1 = 'Constant load with a segment of 0 on bottom';end
if LoadType(1) == 17; lt1 = 'Trapezoidal distribution';end

if LoadType(2) ==  1; lt2 = 'Constant';end 
if LoadType(2) ==  2; lt2 = 'Constant on below';end
if LoadType(2) ==  3; lt2 = 'Linear ramp up';end
if LoadType(2) ==  4; lt2 = 'Linear ramp down';end 
if LoadType(2) ==  5; lt2 = 'Linear ramp up on bottom';end
if LoadType(2) ==  6; lt2 = 'Linear ramp down on bottom';end 
if LoadType(2) ==  7; lt2 = 'Half sinusoid load';end
if LoadType(2) ==  8; lt2 = 'Half sinusoid load on bottom';end
if LoadType(2) ==  9; lt2 = 'Half cosine load';end
if LoadType(2) == 10; lt2 = 'Half cosine load on bottom';end
if LoadType(2) == 11; lt2 = 'Gradual point load of section of segment';end
if LoadType(2) == 12; lt2 = 'Gradual point load of section of segment on bottom';end
if LoadType(2) == 13; lt2 = 'Section of segment with Load';end
if LoadType(2) == 14; lt2 = 'Section of segment with Load on bottom';end
if LoadType(2) == 15; lt2 = 'Constant load with a segment of 0';end
if LoadType(2) == 16; lt2 = 'Constant load with a segment of 0 on bottom';end
if LoadType(2) == 17; lt2 = 'Trapezoidal distribution';end

and so on

Answer 1

[the cyclist]

I believe this will do what you want.

Define the cell array

lt_list = {'Constant','Constant on below' ... etc

then

lt1 = lt_list(loadType(1));
lt2 = lt_list(loadType(2));

[Joseph Catanese]

Error using fprintf

Function is not

defined for 'cell'

inputs.

Error in CP5_MultispanBeam_Catanese (line 354)

fprintf('\n 1 %10.2f %12.2f %8.2f %s', L(1),EI(1),qo(1),lt1)

i get this error

[Joseph Catanese]

how do i define it as 'constant' rather then a cell aray thats the problem

[the cyclist]

Use curly brackets to access the contents of the cell, rather than the cell itself.

lt1 = lt_list{loadType(1)};