Which form is more efficient
This one:
switch($var) {
case 1:
break;
case 2:
break;
}
..or this one:
if( $var === 1 ) {
} elseif( $var === 2 ) {
}
in terms of performance?
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Suresh Kamrushi
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user2261839
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on performance basis switch case are faster – Suresh Kamrushi Apr 09 '13 at 13:24
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Why don't you benchmark it and see? – John Conde Apr 09 '13 at 13:25
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1Let me phrase it this way. The only time you should have a switch statement is if you have more than 1-2 items in an if/elseif block; otherwise using if/elseif is harder to read. – Robert K Apr 09 '13 at 13:26
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I can't believe in how fast users actually contribute in StackOverflow.. This is epic! – user2261839 Apr 09 '13 at 13:39
3 Answers
23
The performance aspect is completely irrelevant.
As PHPBench shows, even with 1,000 operations, the difference between the two is about 188 microseconds, that's 188 millionths of a second. PHP code usually has much bigger bottlenecks: a single database call will often take tens of milliseconds, that's tens of thousands of times more.
Use whichever you like, and whichever is better for your code's readability - for many checks, most likely the switch.
Pekka
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+1 and comparing switch with if is meaning less ... but yes we can terminate if in some case and use switch so that it will be less complex and finely yes its depends on switchwation – NullPoiиteя Apr 09 '13 at 13:45
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Performance in such micro-scale doesn't matter at all. Use the one which is more suitable in your context. Readability & maintainability is far more important than performance.
Mariusz Jamro
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Its not about performance, its more about requirement !!
Sometimes you want something to happen in your if condition, else, it'll go to else.
Switch can be used if you have a lot values to be compared
Deepanshu Goyal
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1And, on top of that, in my opinion a switch is far more readable – Niek van der Steen Apr 09 '13 at 13:27
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yes, it is, but definitely it depends on requirement, if you have a lot of conditions, then if, and if normal data to select upon then definitely switch – Deepanshu Goyal Apr 09 '13 at 13:29
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@user2261839 its not just about php, if and switch work same in all languages – Deepanshu Goyal Apr 09 '13 at 13:30