Difference between if and case

Question

I am teaching myself PHP and have a question about IF and CASE. They seem quite similar to me, and was wondering if somebody could explain the main difference, or why/when I would use one over the other.

The example I am looking at it fairly basic - see below;

IF

if ($i == 1 ||
    $i == 2 ||
    $i == 3) {
 echo '$i is somewhere between 1 and 3.';
}

CASE

case 1:
case 2:
case 3:
    echo '$i is somewhere between 1 and 3.';
    break;

I am new to php and appreciate any advice.

imagine you have 100 cases. which one will you choose? – Raptor Aug 14 '14 at 09:47 — Raptor, Aug 14 '14 at 09:47
Or even: `if ( in_array($i, array(1,2,3)) ) {}` – hsz Aug 14 '14 at 09:48 — hsz, Aug 14 '14 at 09:48
`case` comes with `switch`. – putvande Aug 14 '14 at 09:49 — putvande, Aug 14 '14 at 09:49
@Raptor I'd use a visitor pattern for 100 cases :P – Flosculus Aug 14 '14 at 09:59 — Flosculus, Aug 14 '14 at 09:59

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:26

3

From logical point of view there is not much difference, both of them are conditional branching block.

Beside that, switch statement executes faster, as it knows all the branching where the jump has to made, while for the if statement the same is not true.

consider reading . . .

edited May 23 '17 at 10:26

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answered Aug 14 '14 at 09:48

Parimal Raj

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Difference between if and case

IF

CASE

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