How do I match two specific instances of different objects based on a variable?

Not sure about how to set up the actions.

I want all instances of an object "Menu" to align certain instances of another object "MenuItem" around them.

both objects have an instance variable containing a keyword (string) to identify which menuitem goes into which menu.

How would the simplest order of actions/conditions be setup for this, or is there a better way to do this? (I don't know hhow to create instances at runtime, maybe that would be better?)

hard to say without seeing what you have in mind...

how many menu items are there? aligned vertically or horizontally? evenly spaced out over the menu, or top or left justified? Are the menu items sprites? text objects?

do the menu items need to be pinned to the menu so it can slide on or off the screen?

how are the menu items sorted? is there a sequence they need to be in?

It would help if you could post a sample project with a general idea of what you want.

it doesn't make much of a difference if the items are created at runtime or not.