In computer programming, a switch, case, select or inspect statement is a type of selection control mechanism used to invoke specific blocks of code based on variable contents.
In computer programming, a switch
, case
, select
or inspect
statement is a type of selection control mechanism that exists in most imperative programming languages such as Pascal, Ada, C, C++, C#, Java, and so on. It is also included in several other programming languages. Its purpose is to allow the value of a variable or expression to control the flow of program execution via a multi-way branch (or "goto", one of several labels). The main reasons for using a switch include improving clarity, by reducing otherwise repetitive coding, and (if the heuristics permit) also offering the potential for faster execution through easier compiler optimization in many cases.
Example pseudo-code:
switch (response)
when "Y"
// code to execute when variable response="Y"
when "N"
// code to execute when variable response="N"
else
// code to execute if no when clauses are true
end switch
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