check array for zeros using for increment

I am trying to create a game of battleship, given an array populated by zeros, when a value is changed (places a ship), I want to check if a ship is already there array(row, col) ~= 0. but this only works when the origin is populated. I can't seem to change the code in a regard where it checks each element startRow to endRow. is there a better way to implement this check?

%input is direction, row, col

check = true

switch direction

case 0 %n

startRow = row;

endRow = startRow - (shipLength - 1);

for i = endRow:startRow

if array(row,col) ~= 0

check = false;

end

end

Answer 1

[VBBV]

%if true
 if array(row,col) ~= 0
     check(i) = false;
 end

Use loop index