Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

42 Switch Statements

It is not uncommon to check a variable for a set of values. Using if-else statements, it would look like this:

int yeastType = ...;

if (yeastType == 1) {
   makeBread();
} else if (yeastType == 2) {
   makeBeer();
} else if (yeastType == 3) {
   makeWine();
} else {
   makeFuel();
}

To make this sort of thing easier, C has the switch statement. The code above could be changed to this:

int yeastType = ...;

switch (yeastType) {
    case 1:
        makeBread();
        break;
    case 2:
        makeBeer();
        break;
    case 3:
        makeWine();
        break;
    default:
        makeFuel();
        break;
}

Notice the break statements. Without the break, after executing the appropriate case clause the system would execute all the subsequent case clauses. For example, if you had this: ...