switch
The switch statement is similar to a series of IF statements on the same expression. In many occasions, you may want to compare the same variable (or expression) with many different values, and execute a different piece of code depending on which value it equals to. This is exactly what the switch statement is for.
Замечание: Note that unlike some other languages, the continue statement applies to switch and acts similar to break. If you have a switch inside a loop and wish to continue to the next iteration of the outer loop, use continue 2.
Замечание: Note that switch/case does loose comparision.
The following two examples are two different ways to write the same thing, one using a series of if and elseif statements, and the other using the switch statement:
Пример #1 switch structure
<?php
if ($i == 0) {
echo "i equals 0";
} elseif ($i == 1) {
echo "i equals 1";
} elseif ($i == 2) {
echo "i equals 2";
}
switch ($i) {
case 0:
echo "i equals 0";
break;
case 1:
echo "i equals 1";
break;
case 2:
echo "i equals 2";
break;
}
?>
Пример #2 switch structure allows usage of strings
<?php
switch ($i) {
case "apple":
echo "i is apple";
break;
case "bar":
echo "i is bar";
break;
case "cake":
echo "i is cake";
break;
}
?>
It is important to understand how the switch statement is executed in order to avoid mistakes. The switch statement executes line by line (actually, statement by statement). In the beginning, no code is executed. Only when a case statement is found with a value that matches the value of the switch expression does PHP begin to execute the statements. PHP continues to execute the statements until the end of the switch block, or the first time it sees a break statement. If you don't write a break statement at the end of a case's statement list, PHP will go on executing the statements of the following case. For example:
<?php
switch ($i) {
case 0:
echo "i equals 0";
case 1:
echo "i equals 1";
case 2:
echo "i equals 2";
}
?>
Here, if $i is equal to 0, PHP would execute all of the echo statements! If $i is equal to 1, PHP would execute the last two echo statements. You would get the expected behavior ('i equals 2' would be displayed) only if $i is equal to 2. Thus, it is important not to forget break statements (even though you may want to avoid supplying them on purpose under certain circumstances).
In a switch statement, the condition is evaluated only once and the result is compared to each case statement. In an elseif statement, the condition is evaluated again. If your condition is more complicated than a simple compare and/or is in a tight loop, a switch may be faster.
The statement list for a case can also be empty, which simply passes control into the statement list for the next case.
<?php
switch ($i) {
case 0:
case 1:
case 2:
echo "i is less than 3 but not negative";
break;
case 3:
echo "i is 3";
}
?>
A special case is the default case. This case matches anything that wasn't matched by the other cases. For example:
<?php
switch ($i) {
case 0:
echo "i equals 0";
break;
case 1:
echo "i equals 1";
break;
case 2:
echo "i equals 2";
break;
default:
echo "i is not equal to 0, 1 or 2";
}
?>
The case expression may be any expression that evaluates to a simple type, that is, integer or floating-point numbers and strings. Arrays or objects cannot be used here unless they are dereferenced to a simple type.
The alternative syntax for control structures is supported with switches. For more information, see Alternative syntax for control structures.
<?php
switch ($i):
case 0:
echo "i equals 0";
break;
case 1:
echo "i equals 1";
break;
case 2:
echo "i equals 2";
break;
default:
echo "i is not equal to 0, 1 or 2";
endswitch;
?>
Коментарии
Just a trick I have picked up:
If you need to evaluate several variables to find the first one with an actual value, TRUE for instance. You can do it this was.
There is probably a better way but it has worked out well for me.
switch (true) {
case (X != 1):
case (Y != 1):
default:
}
This is listed in the documentation above, but it's a bit tucked away between the paragraphs. The difference between a series of if statements and the switch statement is that the expression you're comparing with, is evaluated only once in a switch statement. I think this fact needs a little bit more attention, so here's an example:
<?php
$a = 0;
if(++$a == 3) echo 3;
elseif(++$a == 2) echo 2;
elseif(++$a == 1) echo 1;
else echo "No match!";
// Outputs: 2
$a = 0;
switch(++$a) {
case 3: echo 3; break;
case 2: echo 2; break;
case 1: echo 1; break;
default: echo "No match!"; break;
}
// Outputs: 1
?>
It is therefore perfectly safe to do:
<?php
switch(winNobelPrizeStartingFromBirth()) {
case "peace": echo "You won the Nobel Peace Prize!"; break;
case "physics": echo "You won the Nobel Prize in Physics!"; break;
case "chemistry": echo "You won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry!"; break;
case "medicine": echo "You won the Nobel Prize in Medicine!"; break;
case "literature": echo "You won the Nobel Prize in Literature!"; break;
default: echo "You bought a rusty iron medal from a shady guy who insists it's a Nobel Prize..."; break;
}
?>
without having to worry about the function being re-evaluated for every case. There's no need to preemptively save the result in a variable either.
php 7.2.8.
The answer to the eternal question " what is faster?":
1 000 000 000 iterations.
<?php
$s = time();
for ($i = 0; $i < 1000000000; ++$i) {
$x = $i%10;
if ($x == 1) {
$y = $x * 1;
} elseif ($x == 2) {
$y = $x * 2;
} elseif ($x == 3) {
$y = $x * 3;
} elseif ($x == 4) {
$y = $x * 4;
} elseif ($x == 5) {
$y = $x * 5;
} elseif ($x == 6) {
$y = $x * 6;
} elseif ($x == 7) {
$y = $x * 7;
} elseif ($x == 8) {
$y = $x * 8;
} elseif ($x == 9) {
$y = $x * 9;
} else {
$y = $x * 10;
}
}
print("if: ".(time() - $s)."sec\n");
$s = time();
for ($i = 0; $i < 1000000000; ++$i) {
$x = $i%10;
switch ($x) {
case 1:
$y = $x * 1;
break;
case 2:
$y = $x * 2;
break;
case 3:
$y = $x * 3;
break;
case 4:
$y = $x * 4;
break;
case 5:
$y = $x * 5;
break;
case 6:
$y = $x * 6;
break;
case 7:
$y = $x * 7;
break;
case 8:
$y = $x * 8;
break;
case 9:
$y = $x * 9;
break;
default:
$y = $x * 10;
}
}
print("switch: ".(time() - $s)."sec\n");
?>
Results:
if: 69sec
switch: 42sec
Although noted elsewhere, still worth noting is how loose comparison in switch-case was also affected by the change in string to number comparison. Prior PHP8, strings were converted to int before comparison. The reverse is now true which can cause issues for logic that relied on this behavior.
<?php
function testSwitch($key) {
switch ($key) {
case 'non numeric string':
echo $key . ' matches "non numeric string"';
break;
}
}
testSwitch(0); // pre-PHP8, returns '0 matches "non numeric string"'
?>
The default case appears to always be evaluated last. If break is excluded from the default case, then the proceeding cases will be reevaluated. This behavior appears to be undocumented.
<?php
$kinds = ['moo', 'kind1', 'kind2'];
foreach ($kinds as $kind) {
switch($kind)
{
default:
// The kind wasn't valid, set it to the default
$kind = 'kind1';
var_dump('default');
case 'kind1':
var_dump('1');
break;
case 'kind2':
var_dump('2');
break;
case 'kindn':
var_dump('n-th');
break;
}
echo "\n\n";
}
?>
You can wrap up the case/break block with a curly braces:
$x = 2;
switch ($x)
{
case 2: {
echo '2 entrypoint';
break;
}
default: {
echo 'default entrypoint';
break;
}
}
It is possible to prevent nested switch/match/if blocks by checking for multiple cases at once (just beware that PHP uses loose comparison here).
<?php
$a = "abc";
$b = "def";
switch ([$a, $b]) {
case ["abc", "def"]:
$result = 1;
break;
default:
$result = -1;
} // $result == 1
?>
If for some cases one of the values is not important, you can use the variable itself:
<?php
$a = "abc";
$b = "def";
switch ([$a, $b]) {
case ["xyz", "def"]:
$result = 1;
break;
case [$a, "def"]:
$result = 2;
break;
default:
$result = -1;
} // $result == 2
?>