Make variable name out of NSString - objective-c

Question

I have got a for loop where 9 hexagons (hexagon1 through hexagon9) have to be created... But I cannot use hexString as the name of the Sprite because it is a NSString, right ? So how would I make it right ?
hexString [<- I want the for loop to generate "hexagon1", then "hexagon2" and so on instead of the NSString] = [self createHexagon:ccp(xVal,yVal) :i];
int hexCount = [[[itemPositions valueForKey:myString]valueForKey:#"hexposition"] count];
for (int i=1;i<=hexCount;i++){
NSString *hexString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"hexagon%d",i];
NSNumber *generatedXVal = [[[[itemPositions valueForKey: myString ]valueForKey:#"hexposition"] valueForKey: hexString]valueForKey: #"xVal"];
int xVal = [generatedXVal integerValue];
NSNumber *generatedYVal = [[[[itemPositions valueForKey: myString ]valueForKey:#"hexposition"] valueForKey: hexString ]valueForKey: #"yVal"];
int yVal = [generatedYVal integerValue];
hexString = [self createHexagon:ccp(xVal,yVal) : i];
NSLog(#"%#", hexString);
}

Answer 1

That would be impossible as you didn't declare the variable. A work around for this would be using an NSArray and saving your data on to the array instead of making a list of variables.

Answer 2

Use NSMutableDictionary.
for (int i=1;i<=hexCount;i++){
NSString *hexString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"hexagon%d",i];
CCSprite *sprite = [self doSomethingToGetSprite];
[mutableDictionary setObject:sprite forKey:hexString];
}
Later you can iterate over all the sprites in the dictionary using:
for (NSString *key in mutableDictionary) {
CCSprite *sprite = [mutableDictionary objectForKey:key];
[self doStuffWithSprite:sprite];
}
By the way, why are you overwriting hexString that you assign here:
NSString *hexString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"hexagon%d",i];
With the one here:
hexString = [self createHexagon:ccp(xVal,yVal) : i];
And that method call is an obvious syntax error with the dangling : i part there.

Answer 3

can you use NSSelectorFromString?