Efficient handling of many optional arguments

I would like to allow the user to pass a string and a variable into my function to override defaults. e.g. native function 'plot' can take 'color','markersize' etc.

I currently use this function:

 function [ val ] = getVarArg( str )
    %GETVARARG Retrieves value of optional argument
    args = evalin('caller','varargin');
    idx = strcmpi(args,str);
    if sum(idx)>0
        val = args{find(idx)+1};    
    end
  end

I call it inside the function I am passing on option argument to like so

try optionalValue = getVarArg('optionalVar');
 catch
  optionalVar = defaultValue
 end

but it feels a bit clunky. Is there a more elegant way to do this?

[jgg]

Have you checked out input parser? It might do what you want without the need for parsing the string.

[Rall Walsh]

Nope, I hadn't encountered that one before. Thanks a lot, looks like it will be useful

[jgg]

When you've solved your problem, answer your own question to let us know how you solved it!