Strings in switch Statements

In the JDK 7 release, you can use a String object in the expression of a switch statement:

public String getTypeOfDayWithSwitchStatement(String dayOfWeekArg) { String typeOfDay; switch (dayOfWeekArg) { case "Monday": typeOfDay = "Start of work week"; break; case "Tuesday": case "Wednesday": case "Thursday": typeOfDay = "Midweek"; break; case "Friday": typeOfDay = "End of work week"; break; case "Saturday": case "Sunday": typeOfDay = "Weekend"; break; default: throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid day of the week: " + dayOfWeekArg); } return typeOfDay; } 

The switch statement compares the String object in its expression with the expressions associated with each case label as if it were using the String.equals method; consequently, the comparison of String objects in switch statements is case sensitive. The Java compiler generates generally more efficient bytecode from switch statements that use String objects than from chained if-then-else statements.


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