Why the switch statement cannot be applied on strings?

The reason why has to do with the type system. C/C++ doesn’t really support strings as a type. It does support the idea of a constant char array but it doesn’t really fully understand the notion of a string.

In order to generate the code for a switch statement the compiler must understand what it means for two values to be equal. For items like ints and enums, this is a trivial bit comparison. But how should the compiler compare 2 string values? Case sensitive, insensitive, culture aware, etc … Without a full awareness of a string this cannot be accurately answered.

Additionally, C/C++ switch statements are typically generated as branch tables. It’s not nearly as easy to generate a branch table for a string style switch.

Related Posts:

  1. error: switch quantity not an integer
  2. How to convert string to char array in C++?
  3. How can I convert a std::string to int?
  4. Easiest way to convert int to string in C++
  5. std::string to char*
  6. How to convert string to char array in C++?
  7. C++ — expected primary-expression before ‘ ‘
  8. C++ string to double conversion
  9. Conversion from string to char – c++
  10. What is `CString`?
  11. How do I include the string header?
  12. Differences between C++ string == and compare()?
  13. How to convert a char array to a string?
  14. How do I convert a double into a string in C++?
  15. How do I iterate over the words of a string?
  16. How to convert an instance of std::string to lower case
  17. Check if a string contains a string in C++
  18. How do I iterate over the words of a string?
  19. Returning an empty string : efficient way in c++
  20. Replace part of a string with another string
  21. C++ string to double conversion
  22. What is use of c_str function In c++
  23. How to reverse an std::string? [duplicate]
  24. C++ Parsing input string to variables
  25. std::string to char*
  26. How to convert a std::string to const char* or char*
  27. How do I tokenize a string in C++?
  28. Why use string::iterator rather than index?
  29. Why am I getting string does not name a type Error?
  30. C++ deprecated conversion from string constant to ‘char*’
  31. identifier “string” undefined?
  32. Press Enter to Continue
  33. Converting a vector to string
  34. Parsing a comma-delimited std::string
  35. How can I convert const char* to string and then back to char*?
  36. std::string formatting like sprintf
  37. Sorting Characters Of A C++ String
  38. How to copy a string of std::string type in C++?
  39. How to return a string from a C++ function?
  40. std::out_of_range error?
  41. What is the difference between isdigit() and isnumber()?
  42. Convert char* to string C++
  43. printf with std::string?
  44. Convert a String In C++ To Upper Case
  45. Right way to split an std::string into a vector
  46. Read whole ASCII file into C++ std::string
  47. C++: std does not have member “string”
  48. Right way to split an std::string into a vector
  49. string subscript out of range error
  50. C++ String Variable Declaration
  51. Error: Jump to case label in switch statement
  52. Returning an empty string : efficient way in c++
  53. Split a string into an array in C++
  54. splitting a string into an array in C++ without using vector
  55. Remove spaces from std::string in C++
  56. Remove spaces from std::string in C++
  57. c++ convert string to hex
  58. How can I iterate through a string and also know the index (current position)?
  59. c++ parse int from string [duplicate]
  60. Hash function for a string
  61. C++ strings and pointers
  62. How to Convert a C++ String to Uppercase
  63. std::wstring VS std::string
  64. C++ Simple hangman game
  65. Remove First and Last Character C++
  66. C++ Remove punctuation from String
  67. C++ string to enum
  68. C++ Convert string (or char*) to wstring (or wchar_t*)
  69. C++ – Assigning null to a std::string
  70. How to alphabetically sort strings?
  71. Hash function for a string
  72. Reading string by char till end of line C/C++
  73. How do I check if a C++ std::string starts with a certain string, and convert a substring to an int?
  74. Dynamically allocated string array, then change it’s value?
  75. Fastest way to Convert String to Binary?
  76. Why I cannot cout a string?
  77. How to print a string in C++
  78. std::string length() and size() member functions
  79. How to convert QString to int?
  80. Which is faster C++ String length() or size()?
  81. How do I create a random alpha-numeric string in C++?
  82. Is string::compare reliable to determine alphabetical order?
  83. Trying to use int in getline
  84. How to change string into QString?
  85. Function stoi not declared
  86. Converting String to Cstring in C++
  87. c++ sizeof( string )
  88. How to do std::string indexof in C++ that returns index of matching string?
  89. How do I use an enum value in a switch statement in C++?
  90. variable or field declared void
  91. Function stoi not declared
  92. Understanding error “terminate called after throwing an instance of ‘std::length_error’ what(): basic_string::_S_create Aborted (core dumped)”
  93. convert string to size_t
  94. enum to string in modern C++11 / C++14 / C++17 and future C++20
  95. Converting bool to text in C++
  96. Why are there two different getline() functions (if indeed there are)?
  97. Why does my program give “NULL used in arithmetic”
  98. How to find and replace string?
  99. Declaration is incompatible with type
  100. I’m getting the error “stoi is not a member of std” in myprogramminglab [duplicate]

Leave a Comment