The "switch" statement

A switch statement can replace multiple if checks.

It gives a more descriptive way to compare a value with multiple variants.

The syntax

The switch has one or more case blocks and an optional default.

It looks like this:

switch(x) {
  case 'value1':  // if (x === 'value1')
    ...
    [break]

  case 'value2':  // if (x === 'value2')
    ...
    [break]

  default:
    ...
    [break]
}

• The value of x is checked for a strict equality to the value from the first case (that is, value1) then to the second (value2) and so on.
• If the equality is found, switch starts to execute the code starting from the corresponding case, until the nearest break (or until the end of switch).
• If no case is matched then the default code is executed (if it exists).

An example

An example of switch (the executed code is highlighted):