Recognise user input as a variable

[garanon]

Basically I have a bunch of variables, around 15, and I want the user input to define which variable it is looking at (15 is inefficient to hard code)

so for example, I have variables
string a = "mushroom"
string b = "strawberry"
string c = "chocolate"

if the user inputs b, it should dislay "strawberry"

if i were to hard code it, I would have to write a different statement for each
letter e.g.

if a is entered
do this,
else if b is entered
print b
else if c is entered
print c
etc...

but surely there is a way to do this in one statement

e.g

get user input
print variable named same as user input

Thanks in advance

[MrHutch]

I would suggest storing the values in an array or a vector. Then, instead of using a,b,c etc, use numbers, which then can be used as an index.

Example using an array

int main()
{
   const int MAX_FRUITS = 3;  // Length of array
   string fruits[MAX_FRUITS];  // An array of strings, size 3
   int input = -1; // This will store user input

   fruits[0] = "Strawberry"; // Remember, counting starts at zero
   fruits[1] = "Banana";
   fruits[2] = "Lemon";

   while (input < 1 || input > 3) // Make sure valid number is entered
   {
      cout << "Please enter a number (1-3):";
      cin >> input;
   }

   cout << "Your fruit is a " << fruits[input-1] << ".\n";
   return 0;
}

Vectors are similar to arrays and have certain advantages. I'll let you look into that yourself: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/stl/vector/.

I guess you could also do it using pointers but, to be honest, it'd probably get a little messy and could easily get out of hand. I'd stick with one of the two ways above.

[garanon]

Thanks for your suggestion, on my way home I realised someone would probably write this and should explain further

my current code is already like this:
string b [2] = {"L","R"};
string c [3] = {"L","R","H"};
string d [2] = {"R","N"};
//layout like this simply for the sake of being easy to read

I want to type in 'b', and then using rand(), it will pick one of the letters from the array to print, so using numbers wouldn't really work. (also planning on using the array numbers to pick a random letter)

If the reason matters, these are consonant blends so my aim is to make it so when you type in the letter 'b', it will randomly choose between 'l' and 'r' to print which is why i liked it in the above layout so I could read it easier :P

Cheers

[Lowest0ne]

You don't need to define strings like that: string b [2] = {"L","R"}, quicker is string b = "LR". You can still use the [], or str.at(), to treat the string like a character array.

Characters are numbers. As an example:

int arr[256]; 
char ch;

 // assume arr[] is populated

cout << "What do you want: ";
cin >> ch;

cout << arr[ch];

This works just fine, though you would have to do some math to make it make any sense.

I don't know the entire context of your program, but I think I would make a large if/elseif/else statement. Along with that I would make a function that, given a string, will return a random member of that string. Something like:

char ch, rand;

cout << "What do you want: ";
cin >> ch;
if (ch == 'a')
   rand = getRand("LRH");  // a function you will make
else if ....

I think this will be better in the long run, because it will be quick to add or remove options without having to worry about making new variables. It will also be easier to deal with user input error. Just a thought.

[Shinigami]

or you could use

struct Something {
  string name;
  string text_to_return;
};

and make an array of it

Something good[4];