14.9

The

switch

 Statement

BLOCKS AND STATEMENTS

If the value is

true

, then the first contained

Statement

 (the one before the

else

 keyword) is executed; the

if

then

else

 statement completes normally

only if execution of that statement completes normally.

If the value is

false

, then the second contained

Statement

 (the one after the

else

 keyword) is executed; the

if

then

else

 statement completes normally

only if execution of that statement completes normally.

14.9   The

switch

 Statement

The

switch

 statement transfers control to one of several statements depending on

the value of an expression.

SwitchStatement:

switch (

Expression

 )

SwitchBlock

SwitchBlock:

{

S

witchBlockStatementGroups

opt

SwitchLabels

opt

 }

SwitchBlockStatementGroups:

SwitchBlockStatementGroup

SwitchBlockStatementGroups SwitchBlockStatementGroup

SwitchBlockStatementGroup:

SwitchLabels BlockStatements

SwitchLabels:

SwitchLabel

SwitchLabels SwitchLabel

SwitchLabel:

case

ConstantExpression

 :

default :

The type of the

Expression

 must be

char

,

byte

,

short

, or

int

, or a compile 

time error occurs.

The body of a

switch

 statement must be a block. Any statement immediately

contained by the block may be labeled with one or more

case

 or

default

 labels.

These labels are said to be

associated

 with the

switch

 statement, as are the values

of the constant expressions ( 15.27) in the

case

 labels.

All of the following must be true, or a compile time error will result:

274