Switch case in C programming

Switch case is a conditional control statement that allows us to make decisions from number of available choices. It uses an integer value or an enumeration type value for making decisions. Switch case is similar to ladder if else.
Syntax:
Here expression is an integer variable, character or an enumeration type whose value is to be matched with case.
Flow chart:

Switch case flow chart

Rules for using switch case:

• Expression should be an integer, character or an enumeration type.
• case values should always be an integer, character or enumeration constant. And must match the expression type.
• default case is optional.
• Cases need not to be written in order.
• No two case should have same value
  For example:
  
  case 1: statment/s;
  case 2: statment/s;
  case 1+1: statment/s; //Invalid
  case 2: statment/s; //Invalid
• When none of the cases are matched default case executes.

Lets see a program to understand switch case:

Program:

Write a program to input any week number and print corresponding week name using switch.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int week;
    
    printf("Enter week number: ");
    scanf("%d", &week);
    
    switch(week)
    {
        case 1: printf("MONDAY\n");
        case 2: printf("TUESDAY\n");
        case 3: printf("WEDNESDAY\n");
        case 4: printf("THURSDAY\n");
        case 5: printf("FRIDAY\n");
        case 6: printf("SATURDAY\n");
        case 7: printf("SUNDAY\n");
        default: printf("Invalid Input. Please enter week number between 1-7");
    }
    
    return 0;
}

Output: The output of the above program is little weird. When the user input 4 the output should be THURSDAY. But our program is printing all the statements below case 4. In the above program we need something that terminates the control flow from switch when all statements under matched case are executed. And here comes break statement in action.

break: Break statement is used to terminated control flow from inner switch. When a break statement is executed, the control is transferred to next statement after switch.

The above program can be re-written as:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int week;

    printf("Enter week number: ");
    scanf("%d", &week);

    switch(week)
    {
        case 1: printf("MONDAY\n");
                break;
        case 2: printf("TUESDAY\n");
                break;
        case 3: printf("WEDNESDAY\n");
                break;
        case 4: printf("THRUSDAY\n");
                break;
        case 5: printf("FRIDAY\n");
                break;
        case 6: printf("SATURDAY\n");
                break;
        case 7: printf("SUNDAY\n");
                break;
        default: printf("Invalid Input. Please enter week number between 1-7");
    }

    return 0;
} 

Output: