lesson 7

A switch statement allows a variable to be tested for equality against a list of values. Each value is called a case, and the variable being switched on is checked for each case.

In computer programming languages, a switch statement is a type of selection control mechanism used to allow the value of a variable or expression to change the control flow of program execution via a multiway branch.

Switch statements exist in most high-level imperative programming languages such as Pascal, Ada, C/C++, C#, Visual Basic .NET, Java, and in many other types of language, using such keywords as switch, case, select or inspect.

Switch statements come in two main variants: a structured switch, as in Pascal, which takes exactly one branch, and an unstructured switch, as in C, which functions as a type of goto. 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.
The switch statement is used to perform different actions based on different conditions.