MATLAB: How to use varargin names to specify values

MATLABvarargin

I want to be able to use varargins like plot does, where you have to write the variable name for the variable being specified before defining a value for it, e.g.
plot(x, y, '--rs', 'LineWidth', 4, 'MarkerSize', 10, 'MarkerEdgeColor', 'b')
where 'LineWidth', 'MarkerSize' and 'MarkerEdgeColor' are the variables being changed and 4, 10 and 'b' are the values being assigned to these variables.
I want to know how they do this, so I can implement it into my own code. Is it just a case of doing
 if(~isempty(varargin))
     for i = 1:size(varargin, 2) - 1
         if(strcmp(varagin{i}, 'LineWidth')
             LineWidth = varargin{i+1};
         elseif(strcmp(varargin{i}, 'MarkerSize')
             MarkerSize = varargin{i+1};
         elseif(strcmp(varargin{i}, 'MarkerEdgeColor')
             MarkerEdgeColor = varargin{i+1};
         end
     end
 end
or is there a simpler way of doing this? The above method feels really clunky and long winded, so having a quicker method would be ideal.
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