Can i pass an array of n strings to a function that takes n strings as input?

I am plotting N functions on a 2D graph, and i would like to make a legend for each function before knowing how many functions i will have. I thought of creating an array of names in the same loop as described in the code below, but even though the function legend() accepts n character vectors, it wont accept an array containing those as a parameter. Is there any way to perform this?

[~,n]=size(X)
nameArray=[1,n]
hold on
for i=1:n
    plot(X( : ,n),Y( : ,n));
    nameArray(i)= [ 'function number: ' num2str(i)]
end
legend(nameArray)
hold off

Answer 1

[Jan]

nameArray=[1,n]

This creates an [1 x 2] vector. The 1st element is 1, the second is n.

Inside the loop you do not work with strings, but with CHAR vectors. Then you need a "cell string" (which has no relation to "strings", so the name is misleading...):

nameArray = cell(1,n);
...
   nameArray{i} = [ 'function number: ' num2str(i)];

Alternative with modern strings:

n         = size(X, 2);
nameArray = strings(1, n);
hold on
for i = 1:n
    plot(X(:, n),Y(:, n));
    nameArray(i) = ["function number: " + i];
end
legend(nameArray)

Answer 2

[Star Strider]

The plot calls should probably be referencing ‘i’ instead of ‘n’ and if you have R2016b or later, you can use string arrays —

X = randn(5);
Y = randn(5);

[~,n]=size(X)

n = 5

nameArray=[1,n]

nameArray = 1×2

1 5

figure
hold on
for i=1:n
    nameArray = "function number: " + num2str(i);
    plot(X( : ,i),Y( : ,i), 'DisplayName',nameArray);
end
hold off
legend('Location','best')

.