Switch Statement

When you're checking one variable against a bunch of possible values, a long chain of else if gets messy. That's when switch shines — cleaner, faster, and easier to read.

Basic switch Statement

You give switch an expression, and it jumps to the matching case. Each case is a possible value.

#include 
int main() {
  int day = 3;
  switch (day) {
    case 1:
      printf("Monday\n");
      break;
    case 2:
      printf("Tuesday\n");
      break;
    case 3:
      printf("Wednesday\n");
      break;
    case 4:
      printf("Thursday\n");
      break;
    case 5:
      printf("Friday\n");
      break;
    default:
      printf("Weekend!\n");
  }
  return 0;
}
    

break and default

Without break, execution falls through to the next case — sometimes useful, but usually a bug. default catches anything that doesn't match a case.

#include 
int main() {
  char grade = 'B';
  switch (grade) {
    case 'A':
      printf("Excellent!\n");
      break;
    case 'B':
      printf("Good job\n");
      break;
    case 'C':
      printf("Fair\n");
      break;
    default:
      printf("Try harder\n");
  }
  return 0;
}
    

When to Use switch vs if-else

Use switch when you're testing a single variable against exact values (integers or characters). Use if-else when you need ranges (like score >= 75) or complex conditions.