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PHP Arrays and Control Structures

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Switch Case Statements

4:28 with Alena Holligan

PHP provides another control structure called a "switch" statement. Switch statements are similar to a series of IF statements that use the same expression. Switch statements allow you to compare many different values with the same variable or expression. For example: you may want to look at the day of the week, and perform different actions based on which day of the week it is.

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Switch Statements

Weekly Chores

Pioneering Journeys of the Ingalls Family

switch (date('l')) {
   case "Monday":
       echo "Wash on Monday";
       break;
   case "Tuesday":
       echo "Iron on Tuesday";
       break;
   case "Wednesday":
       echo "Mend on Wednesday";
       break;
   case "Thursday":
       echo "Churn on Thursday";
       break;
   case "Friday":
       echo "Clean on Friday";
       break;
   case "Saturday":
       echo "Bake on Saturday";
       break;
   case "Sunday":
       echo "Rest on Sunday";
       break;
   default:
       echo "I don't know what day it is";
       break;
}

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    Now that you have the skills you need to put together any type of conditional 0:00
    expression, we're ready to look at another way to structure conditional statements. 0:03
    PHP provides another control structure called a switch statement. 0:09
    Switch statements are similar to a series of if statements 0:13
    that use the same expression. 0:17
    On many occasions, you may want to compare the same variable or 0:19
    expression with many different values and 0:23
    execute a different piece of code depending on which value it equals. 0:26
    For example you may want to look at the day of the week and 0:31
    perform different actions based on which day of the week it is. 0:34
    This is exactly what the switch statement is for. 0:38
    Let's take a look at this in action. 0:41
    Let's create a new file named switch.php. 0:44
    Open and close your PHP tags and we're ready to get started. 0:51
    We start with the keyword switch. 0:57
    Then within parentheses, will add the variable or 1:01
    expression we're going to evaluate. 1:04
    For our example let's use the day of the week. 1:06
    We'll use the function date with the lowercase l. 1:10
    Then within curly braces we're going to add our case statements. 1:15
    We use the keyword case followed by the value we wish to compare, Monday. 1:19
    Then we add the action we want to perform. 1:27
    Echo wash on Monday and 1:31
    then finally the key word break followed by a semicolon. 1:37
    This tells the switch statement that we have found a match and 1:42
    we're finished evaluating. 1:45
    I'm going to use a list of chores common to pioneer life in 19th century America. 1:47
    You can find this code in the teacher's notes. 1:54
    The switch statement also allows us to add default 1:57
    in case none of the other statements evaluate to true. 2:00
    We add default colon and then our action. 2:03
    I do not know what day it is and a break. 2:12
    Now we can run the script. 2:19
    PHP space switch.php. 2:20
    We see mend on Wednesday because today is Wednesday. 2:26
    Let's move this date to a variable name today. 2:30
    Now we can do some tests. 2:39
    First let's set today equal to something that's not a day of the week. 2:41
    Now let's run our script. 2:45
    We see a default response. 2:50
    If we change today to Friday, We now see clean on Friday. 2:52
    We can also combine value expressions by leaving off the break. 3:01
    After a case is found, it continues to process statements until a break is found. 3:07
    If we want to have a single message for 3:12
    the weekend, we can remove everything between Saturday and Sunday. 3:14
    Now, when I set today equal to Saturday, We see rest on the weekend. 3:24
    I can also add an additional statement to Saturday. 3:33
    Echo Saturday is the weekend. 3:41
    And now when I run our script, I see both statements. 3:49
    Saturday is the weekend rest on the weekend. 3:54
    But if I change to Sunday, I see only the message for the weekend. 3:56
    The switch statement is a great tool when you want to compare the same variable or 4:05
    expression with many different values and 4:09
    execute different pieces of code depending on that value. 4:12
    While you could use multiple IF statements for 4:15
    this, the switch statement can give you cleaner and easier to read code. 4:18
    Once again be clear and expressive in what the code should be doing. 4:23

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