PHP Switch

In PHP, the switch statement is used to perform different actions based on the value of a single variable or expression. It provides an alternative way to write complex branching logic compared to using multiple if and elseif statements.

The basic syntax of the switch statement is as follows:

switch (expression) {
    case value1:
        // Code to be executed if expression matches value1
        break;
    case value2:
        // Code to be executed if expression matches value2
        break;
    // More cases can be added as needed
    default:
        // Code to be executed if none of the cases match
        break;
}

Here’s an example of a simple switch statement:

$day = "Monday";

switch ($day) {
    case "Monday":
        echo "Today is Monday.";
        break;
    case "Tuesday":
        echo "Today is Tuesday.";
        break;
    case "Wednesday":
        echo "Today is Wednesday.";
        break;
    default:
        echo "Today is not Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.";
        break;
}

In this example, the variable $day is used as the expression for the switch statement. The code checks the value of $day against each case and executes the corresponding code block for the matching case. If none of the cases match, the code inside the default block will be executed.

You can have multiple cases that share the same code block by omitting the break statement:

$day = "Monday";

switch ($day) {
    case "Monday":
    case "Tuesday":
    case "Wednesday":
        echo "It's a weekday.";
        break;
    case "Saturday":
    case "Sunday":
        echo "It's the weekend.";
        break;
    default:
        echo "Invalid day.";
        break;
}

In this example, if the value of $day is “Monday”, “Tuesday”, or “Wednesday”, the code will output “It’s a weekday.” If the value is “Saturday” or “Sunday”, it will output “It’s the weekend.” If the value is anything else, it will output “Invalid day.”

The switch statement can be a concise and clean way to handle multiple conditions and improve the readability of your code when dealing with many possible cases based on a single variable or expression.