NAME
Switch - A switch statement for Perl, do not use if you can use given/when
SYNOPSIS
switch (
$val
) {
case 1 {
"number 1"
}
case
"a"
{
"string a"
}
case [1..10,42] {
"number in list"
}
case (\
@array
) {
"number in list"
}
case /\w+/ {
"pattern"
}
case
qr/\w+/
{
"pattern"
}
case (\
%hash
) {
"entry in hash"
}
case (\
&sub
) {
"arg to subroutine"
}
else
{
"previous case not true"
}
}
BACKGROUND
[Skip ahead to "DESCRIPTION" if you don't care about the whys and wherefores of this control structure]
In seeking to devise a "Swiss Army" case mechanism suitable for Perl, it is useful to generalize this notion of distributed conditional testing as far as possible. Specifically, the concept of "matching" between the switch value and the various case values need not be restricted to numeric (or string or referential) equality, as it is in other languages. Indeed, as Table 1 illustrates, Perl offers at least eighteen different ways in which two values could generate a match.
Table 1: Matching a switch value (
$s
)
with
a case value (
$c
)
Switch Case Type of Match Implied Matching Code
Value Value
====== ===== ===================== =============
number same numeric or referential match
if
$s
==
$c
;
or
ref
equality
object method result of method call match
if
$s
->
$c
();
ref
name match
if
defined
$s
->
$c
();
or
ref
other other string equality match
if
$s
eq
$c
;
non-
ref
non-
ref
scalar
scalar
string regexp pattern match match
if
$s
=~ /
$c
/;
array
scalar
array entry existence match
if
0<=
$c
&&
$c
<
@$s
;
ref
array entry definition match
if
defined
$s
->[
$c
];
array entry truth match
if
$s
->[
$c
];
array array array intersection match
if
intersects(
@$s
,
@$c
);
ref
ref
(apply this table to
all pairs of elements
$s
->[
$i
] and
$c
->[
$j
])
array regexp array
grep
match
if
grep
/
$c
/,
@$s
;
ref
hash
scalar
hash entry existence match
if
exists
$s
->{
$c
};
ref
hash entry definition match
if
defined
$s
->{
$c
};
hash entry truth match
if
$s
->{
$c
};
hash regexp hash
grep
match
if
grep
/
$c
/,
keys
%$s
;
ref
sub
scalar
return
value defn match
if
defined
$s
->(
$c
);
ref
return
value truth match
if
$s
->(
$c
);
sub
array
return
value defn match
if
defined
$s
->(
@$c
);
ref
ref
return
value truth match
if
$s
->(
@$c
);
In reality, Table 1 covers 31 alternatives, because only the equality and intersection tests are commutative; in all other cases, the roles of the $s
and $c
variables could be reversed to produce a different test. For example, instead of testing a single hash for the existence of a series of keys (match if exists $s->{$c}
), one could test for the existence of a single key in a series of hashes (match if exists $c->{$s}
).
DESCRIPTION
The Switch.pm module implements a generalized case mechanism that covers most (but not all) of the numerous possible combinations of switch and case values described above.
The module augments the standard Perl syntax with two new control statements: switch
and case
. The switch
statement takes a single scalar argument of any type, specified in parentheses. switch
stores this value as the current switch value in a (localized) control variable. The value is followed by a block which may contain one or more Perl statements (including the case
statement described below). The block is unconditionally executed once the switch value has been cached.
A case
statement takes a single scalar argument (in mandatory parentheses if it's a variable; otherwise the parens are optional) and selects the appropriate type of matching between that argument and the current switch value. The type of matching used is determined by the respective types of the switch value and the case
argument, as specified in Table 1. If the match is successful, the mandatory block associated with the case
statement is executed.
In most other respects, the case
statement is semantically identical to an if
statement. For example, it can be followed by an else
clause, and can be used as a postfix statement qualifier.
However, when a case
block has been executed control is automatically transferred to the statement after the immediately enclosing switch
block, rather than to the next statement within the block. In other words, the success of any case
statement prevents other cases in the same scope from executing. But see "Allowing fall-through" below.
Together these two new statements provide a fully generalized case mechanism:
# AND LATER...
%special
= (
woohoo
=> 1, d'
oh
=> 1 );
while
(<>) {
chomp
;
switch (
$_
) {
case (
%special
) {
"homer\n"
; }
# if $special{$_}
case /[a-z]/i {
"alpha\n"
; }
# if $_ =~ /a-z/i
case [1..9] {
"small num\n"
; }
# if $_ in [1..9]
case {
$_
[0] >= 10 } {
"big num\n"
; }
# if $_ >= 10
"must be punctuation\n"
case /\W/;
# if $_ ~= /\W/
}
}
Note that switch
es can be nested within case
(or any other) blocks, and a series of case
statements can try different types of matches -- hash membership, pattern match, array intersection, simple equality, etc. -- against the same switch value.
The use of intersection tests against an array reference is particularly useful for aggregating integral cases:
sub
classify_digit
{
switch (
$_
[0]) { case 0 {
return
'zero'
}
case [2,4,6,8] {
return
'even'
}
case [1,3,5,7,9] {
return
'odd'
}
case /[A-F]/i {
return
'hex'
}
}
}
Allowing fall-through
Fall-though (trying another case after one has already succeeded) is usually a Bad Idea in a switch statement. However, this is Perl, not a police state, so there is a way to do it, if you must.
If a case
block executes an untargeted next
, control is immediately transferred to the statement after the case
statement (i.e. usually another case), rather than out of the surrounding switch
block.
For example:
switch (
$val
) {
case 1 { handle_num_1();
next
}
# and try next case...
case
"1"
{ handle_str_1();
next
}
# and try next case...
case [0..9] { handle_num_any(); }
# and we're done
case /\d/ { handle_dig_any();
next
}
# and try next case...
case /.*/ { handle_str_any();
next
}
# and try next case...
}
If $val held the number 1
, the above switch
block would call the first three handle_...
subroutines, jumping to the next case test each time it encountered a next
. After the third case
block was executed, control would jump to the end of the enclosing switch
block.
On the other hand, if $val held 10
, then only the last two handle_...
subroutines would be called.
Note that this mechanism allows the notion of conditional fall-through. For example:
switch (
$val
) {
case [0..9] { handle_num_any();
next
if
$val
< 7; }
case /\d/ { handle_dig_any(); }
}
If an untargeted last
statement is executed in a case block, this immediately transfers control out of the enclosing switch
block (in other words, there is an implicit last
at the end of each normal case
block). Thus the previous example could also have been written:
switch (
$val
) {
case [0..9] { handle_num_any();
last
if
$val
>= 7;
next
; }
case /\d/ { handle_dig_any(); }
}
Automating fall-through
In situations where case fall-through should be the norm, rather than an exception, an endless succession of terminal next
s is tedious and ugly. Hence, it is possible to reverse the default behaviour by specifying the string "fallthrough" when importing the module. For example, the following code is equivalent to the first example in "Allowing fall-through":
switch (
$val
) {
case 1 { handle_num_1(); }
case
"1"
{ handle_str_1(); }
case [0..9] { handle_num_any();
last
}
case /\d/ { handle_dig_any(); }
case /.*/ { handle_str_any(); }
}
Note the explicit use of a last
to preserve the non-fall-through behaviour of the third case.
Alternative syntax
Perl 6 will provide a built-in switch statement with essentially the same semantics as those offered by Switch.pm, but with a different pair of keywords. In Perl 6 switch
will be spelled given
, and case
will be pronounced when
. In addition, the when
statement will not require switch or case values to be parenthesized.
This future syntax is also (largely) available via the Switch.pm module, by importing it with the argument "Perl6"
. For example:
given
(
$val
) {
when
1 { handle_num_1(); }
when
(
$str1
) { handle_str_1(); }
when
[0..9] { handle_num_any();
last
}
when
/\d/ { handle_dig_any(); }
when
/.*/ { handle_str_any(); }
default
{ handle anything
else
; }
}
Note that scalars still need to be parenthesized, since they would be ambiguous in Perl 5.
Note too that you can mix and match both syntaxes by importing the module with:
Higher-order Operations
One situation in which switch
and case
do not provide a good substitute for a cascaded if
, is where a switch value needs to be tested against a series of conditions. For example:
sub
beverage {
switch (
shift
) {
case {
$_
[0] < 10 } {
return
'milk'
}
case {
$_
[0] < 20 } {
return
'coke'
}
case {
$_
[0] < 30 } {
return
'beer'
}
case {
$_
[0] < 40 } {
return
'wine'
}
case {
$_
[0] < 50 } {
return
'malt'
}
case {
$_
[0] < 60 } {
return
'Moet'
}
else
{
return
'milk'
}
}
}
(This is equivalent to writing case (sub { $_[0] < 10 })
, etc.; $_[0]
is the argument to the anonymous subroutine.)
The need to specify each condition as a subroutine block is tiresome. To overcome this, when importing Switch.pm, a special "placeholder" subroutine named __
[sic] may also be imported. This subroutine converts (almost) any expression in which it appears to a reference to a higher-order function. That is, the expression:
__ < 2
is equivalent to:
sub
{
$_
[0] < 2 }
With __
, the previous ugly case statements can be rewritten:
case __ < 10 {
return
'milk'
}
case __ < 20 {
return
'coke'
}
case __ < 30 {
return
'beer'
}
case __ < 40 {
return
'wine'
}
case __ < 50 {
return
'malt'
}
case __ < 60 {
return
'Moet'
}
else
{
return
'milk'
}
The __
subroutine makes extensive use of operator overloading to perform its magic. All operations involving __ are overloaded to produce an anonymous subroutine that implements a lazy version of the original operation.
The only problem is that operator overloading does not allow the boolean operators &&
and ||
to be overloaded. So a case statement like this:
case 0 <= __ && __ < 10 {
return
'digit'
}
doesn't act as expected, because when it is executed, it constructs two higher order subroutines and then treats the two resulting references as arguments to &&
:
sub
{ 0 <=
$_
[0] } &&
sub
{
$_
[0] < 10 }
This boolean expression is inevitably true, since both references are non-false. Fortunately, the overloaded 'bool'
operator catches this situation and flags it as an error.
DEPENDENCIES
The module is implemented using Filter::Util::Call and Text::Balanced and requires both these modules to be installed.
AUTHOR
Damian Conway (damian@conway.org). This module is now maintained by Alexandr Ciornii (alexchorny@gmail.com). Previously was maintained by Rafael Garcia-Suarez and perl5 porters.
BUGS
There are undoubtedly serious bugs lurking somewhere in code this funky :-) Bug reports and other feedback are most welcome.
May create syntax errors in other parts of code.
On perl 5.10.x may cause syntax error if "case" is present inside heredoc.
In general, use given/when instead. It were introduced in perl 5.10.0. Perl 5.10.0 was released in 2007.
LIMITATIONS
Due to the heuristic nature of Switch.pm's source parsing, the presence of regexes with embedded newlines that are specified with raw /.../
delimiters and don't have a modifier //x
are indistinguishable from code chunks beginning with the division operator /
. As a workaround you must use m/.../
or m?...?
for such patterns. Also, the presence of regexes specified with raw ?...?
delimiters may cause mysterious errors. The workaround is to use m?...?
instead.
Due to the way source filters work in Perl, you can't use Switch inside an string eval
.
May not work if sub prototypes are used (RT#33988).
Regex captures in when are not available to code.
If your source file is longer then 1 million characters and you have a switch statement that crosses the 1 million (or 2 million, etc.) character boundary you will get mysterious errors. The workaround is to use smaller source files.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1997-2008, Damian Conway. All Rights Reserved.
This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed
and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.