Switch vs if, elseif, else

The switch statement in C# is quite basic even though it's a bit more versatile than those found in C, C++ and Java.

You can only switch on integers, characters, strings or enums and, if you need to specify a range of values, then you have to stack cases on top of each other which is clearly only viable where the range is very small.

So, yes, I'd agree that the situations where switch can be used are quite limited and most of the time you have to use an if/else if/else ladder instead.

In fact, I know some programmers who avoid switch altogether because they feel that having to put 'break' or a similar jump statement at the end of each case makes it unnecessarily verbose.

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Vulpes12y ago
Accepted answer
The switch statement in C# is quite basic even though it's a bit more versatile than those found in C, C++ and Java.

You can only switch on integers, characters, strings or enums and, if you need to specify a range of values, then you have to stack cases on top of each other which is clearly only viable where the range is very small.

So, yes, I'd agree that the situations where switch can be used are quite limited and most of the time you have to use an if/else if/else ladder instead.

In fact, I know some programmers who avoid switch altogether because they feel that having to put 'break' or a similar jump statement at the end of each case makes it unnecessarily verbose.