---

Switch on the value true and feed the case a statement to evaluate.

I was in a bind with how to switch on something at work, and another programmer shared this (probably age-old) coding method of switching on true as a bool result). He was stunned that after so many years of programming that hadn't come to me.

I'm a bit surprised, as well, that I haven't seen it; I make good use of switch to keep my if/else jungle to a bare minimum.

Let me tell you, if you are using a string of else if statements, this is for you!

     switch(true) {
        case ($var=='possible value 1') :
          echo $var;
        break;
        case ($var=='possible value 2') :
          error_log($var);
        break;
        default: // do nothing
      }
Let me show you what NOT to do:

     if ($var=='possible value 1') {
       echo $var;
     } else if ($var=='possible value 2') {
       error_log($var);
     } else {
       // do nothing
     }
Now I know that it is personal preference, but when you need to put large blocks of code in the switch is much more versatile and easy to read/modify.

"Wait! That could have been done by switching on $var much easier!

Yes, it could have, but this one can not:

     switch(true) {
        case ($var<20) :
          echo $var;
        break;
        case ($var>=20) :
          error_log($var);
        break;
        default: // do nothing
      }

I love that switch(true) ...besides, now we can say that we are truly seeking the truth, eh?

Last Updated: 2008-11-05 17:37:02