How to use the switch statement in the C language?
In the C language, the switch statement is used to execute different code blocks based on different conditions. Its basic usage is as follows:
- The switch statement starts with the switch keyword, followed by an expression inside parentheses. For example:
- if (expression) {
} - Next, write multiple case statements within curly braces, where each case statement is used to match different conditions. If the value of the expression matches the value of a case, then the code block following that case will be executed. For example:
- If the expression matches value1, execute block of code 1. If the expression matches value2, execute block of code 2. If the expression matches value3, execute block of code 3. If none of the cases match, execute the default block of code.
- If the value of the expression does not match any of the case statements, the code block following the default statement will be executed. The default statement is optional and if not provided, no code will be executed. For example:
- If the expression matches value1, execute code block 1. If it matches value2, execute code block 2. Otherwise, execute the default code block.
- Make sure to use the “break” keyword at the end of each code block in a case statement to terminate the execution of that specific case. If the break statement is not used, the program will continue to execute the code in the following case block, a phenomenon known as “case fall-through”. For example:
- If the expression matches value1, execute code block 1 and then break. If it matches value2, execute code block 2 without breaking. If it matches value3, execute code block 3 and then break. If none of the values match, execute the default code block.
This is the basic usage of the switch statement in C language. Depending on the needs, different code blocks can be written in different cases to achieve different functionalities.