PHP Switch Statement

Posted by virtualinfocom 12:44 AM

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For example we might have a variable that stores travel destinations and you want
to pack according to this destination variable. In this example you might have
20 different locations that you would have to check with a nasty long block
of If/ElseIf/ElseIf/ElseIf/... statements. This doesn't sound like much fun to code,
let's see if we can do something different.

PHP Switch Statement: Speedy Checking

With the use of the switch statement you can check for all these
conditions at once, and the great thing is that it is actually more efficient
programming to do this. A true win-win situation!

The way the Switch statement works is it takes a single variable as input
and then checks it against all the different cases you set up for that
switch statement. Instead of having to check that variable one at a time,
as it goes through a bunch of If Statements, the Switch statement only has to check
one time.

PHP Switch Statement Example

In our example the single variable will be $destination

and the cases will be: Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Egypt, Tokyo, and the Caribbean Islands.

PHP Code:

$destination = "Tokyo";
echo "Traveling to $destination<br />";
switch ($destination){
 case "Las Vegas":
  echo "Bring an extra $500";
  break;
 case "Amsterdam":
  echo "Bring an open mind";
  break; 
 case "Egypt":
  echo "Bring 15 bottles of SPF 50 Sunscreen";
  break; 
 case "Tokyo":
  echo "Bring lots of money";
  break;
 case "Caribbean Islands":
  echo "Bring a swimsuit";
  break; 
}

Display:

Traveling to Tokyo

Bring lots of money

The value of $destination was Tokyo, so when PHP performed the switch

operating on $destination in immediately did a search for a case with the
value of "Tokyo". It found it and proceeded to execute the code that existed
within that segment.

You might have noticed how each case contains a break; at the end of its code area. This
break prevents the other cases from being executed. If the above example did not
have any break statements then all the cases that follow Tokyo would have been executed as well.
Use this knowledge to enhance the power of your switch statements!
The form of the switch statement is rather unique, so spend some time reviewing it
before moving on. Note: Beginning programmers should always include the break; to
avoid any unnecessary confusion.

PHP Switch Statement: Default Case

You may have noticed the lack of a place for code when the
variable doesn't match our condition. The if statement has the else clause and
the switch statement has the default case.

It's usually a good idea to always include the default case in all your switch
statements. Below is a variation of our example that will result in none of the cases
being used causing our switch statement to fall back and use the default case. Note: the word
case does not appear before the word default, as default is a special keyword!

PHP Code:

$destination = "New York";
echo "Traveling to $destination<br />";
switch ($destination){
 case "Las Vegas":
  echo "Bring an extra $500";
  break;
 case "Amsterdam":
  echo "Bring an open mind";
  break;
 case "Egypt":
  echo "Bring 15 bottles of SPF 50 Sunscreen";
  break; 
 case "Tokyo":
  echo "Bring lots of money";
  break; 
 case "Caribbean Islands":
  echo "Bring a swimsuit";
  break;  
 default:
  echo "Bring lots of underwear!";
  break;

}

Display:

Traveling to New York

Bring lots of underwear!