Is match statement (structural pattern matching) faster than if-else statements?

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I'm currently learning Java and I came across if-else and switch statement, and I learned Switch statement is slightly faster than if-else statement.

I'm familiar that Python adds a lot of boilerplate whenever we are creating something (defining functions and stuff) which can be seen by disassembling them using dis function.

Question:

Is match statement faster than if-else in Python? Is it more efficient to use it instead of traditional if-else statements?

In case you are unfamiliar with match statements, here's the link to PEP 636 -- Structural Pattern Matching tutorial.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 16 '21 at 10:09

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Yes, as far as I know, match/case structures are generally faster than if/elif/else structures. Use them wherever possible over if/elif/else structures. Match/case structures can check if a variable is equal to a value, but they cannot do complex conditions, so you will still be using if/elif/else structures quite a lot (e.g., if var and not var2: is only possible with an if/elif/else structure).

answered Dec 16 '21 at 10:09

TheAngriestCrusader

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"but they cannot do complex conditions" unfortunately they can – timgeb Dec 16 '21 at 10:13
@timgeb They can? How would you do my example with a match/case structure? It would be very useful to me. – TheAngriestCrusader Dec 16 '21 at 13:05
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See [guards](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0622/#id8) – timgeb Dec 16 '21 at 14:10
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"As far as I know" - what is the basis for your belief? Is there evidence or a theoretical reason? – kaya3 Jan 14 '23 at 13:53

Is match statement (structural pattern matching) faster than if-else statements?

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