the switch statement

[Henri]

I really don't understand what this does and how to use it, could somone please explain it to me?

thank you

[mrmufin]

The switch() statement is functionally SIMILAR to if() ... elesif() ... elseif() ...else. However, if you have a slew of, say, 8 distinct conditions that you're testing for, the if() ... eleif() ... else clauses can get pretty messy.

[undertow]

RTFM@http://www.php.net/manual/en/control-structures.switch.php.

Basically it's a way of making conditionals (usually you'd use IF statements) quicker to write if you're always testing the same variable in all cases:

switch ($grade) {
 case 'A':
  echo "Good job";
  break;
 case 'B':
  echo "All right";
  break;
 case 'C':
  echo "Try harder";
  break;
 case 'D':
  echo "Pretty bad";
  break;
 case 'F':
  echo "You suck";
  break;
 default:
  echo "That's not a grade and you know it!"
}

[Henri]

so it's like switch(do the action associated with the case)

example:

$action = "post"

switch ($action) {
case: "post"
bla bla bla
break;

case: "view"
view.something.here
break;
}

the result would be "bla bla bla" right?

and did I get the synthanx right?

thanx

[Weedpacket]

Exactly right in concept. Just a wee typo in your syntax. It's

case "post":

and not

case: "post"

(Oh, and a mising semicolon on the first line, but that's incidental!)

Apart from that, it's perfect.

In case you are wondering, the "break" is to stop the rest of the switch from being executed (a behaviour known as "falling through"). Without it, then if $action="post", you'd get "bla bla bla" and continue on to get "view.something.here". That's to make it easy to group several cases that do the same thing:

switch($digit)
{
    case 2:
    case 3:
    case 5:
    case 7:
        // A prime digit
        break;
    default: // Anything not otherwise coverered
        // Not a prime digit
}

[Henri]

ok, thanx a lot😉