I dont know what you exactly mean when you talk about arrays 2D collision detection comes into my mind and when you talk about variables I think about something like

var colisionMode;
collisionMode = IGNORE_ME + IGNORE_MODELS + GLIDE;

if its the second option, just do it like that. Combine all collision modes in one variable and use 'collisionMode' in your c_move or c_trace instruction as you like.