4.4.Using Strings in switch Statements
In Java SE 7 and later, you can use a String object in the switch statement’s expression. The following code example, StringSwitchDemo, displays the number of the month based on the value of the String named month:
public class StringSwitchDemo { public static int getMonthNumber(String month) { int monthNumber = 0; if (month == null) { return monthNumber; } switch (month.toLowerCase()) { case "january": monthNumber = 1; break; case "february": monthNumber = 2; break; case "march": monthNumber = 3; break; case "april": monthNumber = 4; break; case "may": monthNumber = 5; break; case "june": monthNumber = 6; break; case "july": monthNumber = 7; break; case "august": monthNumber = 8; break; case "september": monthNumber = 9; break; case "october": monthNumber = 10; break; case "november": monthNumber = 11; break; case "december": monthNumber = 12; break; default: monthNumber = 0; break; } return monthNumber; }
public static void main(String[] args) { String month = "August"; int returnedMonthNumber = StringSwitchDemo.getMonthNumber(month); if (returnedMonthNumber == 0) { System.out.println("Invalid month"); } else { System.out.println(returnedMonthNumber); } } }
The output from this code is 8.
The String in the switch expression is compared with the expressions associated with each case label as if the String.equals method were being used. In order for the StringSwitchDemo example to accept any month regardless of case, month is converted to lowercase (with the toLowerCase method), and all the strings associated with the case labels are in lowercase.
Note: This example checks if the expression in the switch statement is null. Ensure that the expression in any switch statement is not null to prevent a NullPointerException from being thrown.