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Control Statements > Selection Statements >
Siva Nookala - 22 Feb 2019
if-else is a two way branch statement. if-else-if ladder is a multi-way branch statement. switch provides a better multi-way branch than if-else-if ladder which executes multiple branches depending on the values of an expression.


    switch(expression)
    {
        case value1:
            // statement1;
            break;
        case value2:
            // statement2;
            break;
        default:
            // statement3;
            break;
    }
  • The expression must be of type byte, short, int or char.
  • From JDK7, expression as String is also supported.
  • Each value provided in case should be a literal value and variables are not allowed here.
  • Duplicate case values are not allowed.
  • The type of each value must be compatible with the expression.
The value of expression is evaluated and compared with each of the values in case statements. Those are value1, value2. If the value matches with value1 then statement1 is executed, if it matches value2 then statement2 is executed. If it matches none of the values, then the statement3 which is under default section is executed.
It is not necessary to have default statement for every switch. When value of expression does not match any of the values and their is no default section, then no statement is executed.
It is necessary to put a break statement after every case block if we want to stop the execution. If there is no break it continues to execute the other statements present in the switch statement. This is called fall-through.
Print Direction
class PrintDirection
{
    public static void main(String arg[])
    {
        char direction = 'S';
        
        switch( direction )
        {
            case 'E':
                System.out.println("East"); // LINE A
                break;
            case 'W':
                System.out.println("West"); // LINE B
                break;
            case 'S':
                System.out.println("South"); // LINE C
                break;
            case 'N':
                System.out.println("North"); // LINE D
                break;
            default:
                System.out.println("Unknown Direction"); // LINE E
                break;
        }
        System.out.println("After switch"); // LINE F
    
    }
}
OUTPUT

South
After switch

DESCRIPTION

Since the value of direction is 'S', it is compared with various values 'E', 'W', 'N' and 'S'. Since it matches 'S', LINE C is executed. If the direction was 'N' instead of 'S', then LINE D is executed. If the direction was 'M', since it does not match any of the values, the LINE E in the default section is executed.

THINGS TO TRY
  • Remove the default section and initialize the direction to 'M'.
  • Remove the break statement after LINE C. When you remove the break, the control does not break after LINE C and executes LINE Dhence printing North and then it breaks since it encounters break after LINE D. This is also called fall-through.
  • Try putting duplicate case values, by changing 'W' also to 'S'. case 'W' in LINE B to case 'S'.
  • Try putting ascii code of 'S' which is 83 instead of char 'S' i.e. case 83: instead of case 'S':.
  • Move the default block above and see that default need not be the last case and can be present any where.

4-min video about switch statement in Java

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