note 105125 deleted from control-structures.switch by cmb

Note Submitter: Bas Vijfwinkel ---- If you want to avoid problems with loose comparison and strings in case statements (0 matching the first string case), you can use an explicit string cast in the switch statement: switch((string)$switchkey) {...} If $switchkey is 0 then the switch statement will either jump to the 'default' case or execute nothing at all (if there is no 'default' case present). <?php $switchkey = 0; if('a string' == $switchkey) echo 'a string is 0' . PHP_EOL; if('a string' === $switchkey) echo 'but you will never see this' . PHP_EOL; switch($switchkey) { case 'a string': echo 'switch string test without explicit cast:'.$switchkey.' is a string (this is not what we want to see)' . PHP_EOL;break; case 'another string': echo 'switch string test without explicit cast: '.$switchkey.' is another string' . PHP_EOL;break; default: echo 'switch string test without explicit cast: default :'.$switchkey.' is somethign else (this is the correct choice)' . PHP_EOL;break; } switch((string)$switchkey) { case 'a string': echo 'switch string test with explicit cast:'.$switchkey.' is a string (this is not what we want to see)' . PHP_EOL;break; case 'another string': echo 'switch string test with explicit cast: '.$switchkey.' is another string' . PHP_EOL;break; default: echo 'switch string test with explicit cast: default :'.$switchkey.' is something else (this is the correct choice)' . PHP_EOL;break; } $switchkey = true; if('a string' == $switchkey) echo 'a string is TRUE' . PHP_EOL; if('a string' === $switchkey) echo 'but you will never see this' . PHP_EOL; switch($switchkey) { case 'a string': echo 'Switch boolean test without explicit cast:'.$switchkey.' is a string (this is not what we want to see)' . PHP_EOL;break; case 'another string': echo 'Switch boolean test without explicit cast: '.$switchkey.' is another string' . PHP_EOL;break; default : echo 'Switch boolean test : default without explicit cast: '.$switchkey.' is something else (this is the correct choice)' . PHP_EOL;break; } switch((string)$switchkey) { case 'a string': echo 'Switch boolean test with explicit cast:'.$switchkey.' is a string (this is not what we want to see)' . PHP_EOL;break; case 'another string': echo 'Switch boolean test with explicit cast: '.$switchkey.' is another string' . PHP_EOL;break; default : echo 'Switch boolean test with explicit cast: default:s '.$switchkey.' is something else (this is the correct choice)' . PHP_EOL;break; } ?> The script will output : a string is 0 switch string test without explicit cast:0 is a string (this is not what we want to see) switch string test with explicit cast: default :0 is something else (this is the correct choice) a string is TRUE Switch boolean test without explicit cast:1 is a string (this is not what we want to see) Switch boolean test with explicit cast: default:s 1 is something else (this is the correct choice)