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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.

Documentation

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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