JDK 7 : String in Switch

A long overdue and seemingly basic feature but better late than never. So now Java has the feature which dotNet had earlier.

public class StringsInSwitch {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        for (String a : new String[]{"foo", "bar", "baz"}) {
            switch (a) {
                case "foo":
                    System.out.println("received foo!");
                    break;
                case "bar":
                    System.out.println("received bar!");
                    break;
                case "baz":
                    System.out.println("received baz!");
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

}

Switches in java

Switch (aka case) statements are used to select which statements are to be executed depending on a variable's value matching a label. default is used for the else situation. The selection variable can only be int or char datatype.

switch (selection)
   {
   case '1':System.out.println("You typed a 1");break;
   case '2':System.out.println("You typed a 2");break;
   default:System.out.println("Oops!, that was an invalid entry.");
   };

Switch statement on enums

public enum Shape { RECTANGLE, CIRCLE, LINE }

The switch statement was enhanced to allow a convenient use of enums. Note that the case values don't have to be qualified with the enum class name, which can be determined from the switch control value.

switch (drawing) {
    case RECTANGLE: g.drawRect(x, y, width, height);
                    break;
    case CIRCLE   : g.drawOval(x, y, width, height);
                    break;
    case LINE     : g.drawLine(x, y, x + width, y + height);
                    break;
}