Using String with Switch statements?

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Switch Statement with Strings in Java

Ok, basically i want to know if this is possible and how to do it. I have a menu and i want this switch statement to recognize chars or a string that was entered by the user.

I have a little menu program that I am writing:

import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileReader;

public class Personnel
{
    // Instance Variables
    private static String empName;
    private static double wage;

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {

        clearScreen();
        question();
        printMenu();
        exit();
    }

    public static void clearScreen()
    {
        System.out.println("\u001b[H\u001b[2J");
    }

    private static void exit()
    {
        System.exit(0);
    }

    private static void printMenu()
    {
        System.out.println("\t------------------------------------");
        System.out.println("\t|Commands: n - New employee        |");
        System.out.println("\t|          c - Compute paychecks   |");
        System.out.println("\t|          r - Raise wages         |");
        System.out.println("\t|          p - Print records       |");
        System.out.println("\t|          d - Download data       |");
        System.out.println("\t|          u - Upload data         |");
        System.out.println("\t|          q - Quit                |");
        System.out.println("\t------------------------------------");
        System.out.println("");
    }

    private static void question()
    {
        System.out.println("Enter command: ");
        Scanner q = new Scanner(System.in);
        // String input = q.nextLine();

        switch (q.nextLine())
        {
        case "n":
            System.out.println("Enter the name of new employee: ");
            Scanner stdin = new Scanner(System.in);
            System.out.println("Hourly (h) or salaried (s): ");
            Scanner stdin2 = new Scanner(System.in);
            if (stdin2.equals("h"))
            {
                System.out.println("Enter hourly wage: ");
                Scanner stdin3 = new Scanner(System.in);
            }
            else
            {
                System.out.println("Enter annual salary: ");
                Scanner stdin4 = new Scanner(System.in);
            }
            break;

        /*
         * case 9:
         *      System.out.println ("Please proceed."); 
         *      new InputMenu(); 
         *      break; 
         * default: 
         *      System.err.println ("Unrecognized option" ); break;
         */
        }
    }
}

What i am trying to do is make this menu work so that you can type in a command then i will write methods to run depending on what command was typed in. Is switch statement the best way to do this? After they enter in the info i need it to "break" back to the main menu. And anytime during the entire program, if they enter q then the program exits. I'm not sure the best way to go about doing this.

Thanks!

Question is answered here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/338206/switch-statement-with-strings-in-java — GraphicsMuncher, Nov 05 '12 at 02:45

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 05 '12 at 03:59

2

Using String in switch-case statements is supported in jdk 7. Please refer this link for an example: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/language/strings-switch.html
Hope this helps.

answered Nov 05 '12 at 03:59

Konza

2,143
17
30

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 05 '12 at 02:51

0

Switch statement is one of the cleanest way to do this, although I wouldn't argue if it were the "best" because its subjective. But me coming from a C/C++ background, and for others too who have mostly written C and C++ before they wrote Java, the switch statement is a natural way of getting through multiple cases. Its just more readable. And at one point in C land, it was suppose the be the fastest possible condition tester because it used O(1) based algorithm to find the matching case, or matched the default if one existed.

But I am not too sure if its the case on JVM/javac, as I never performance-tested it specifically. But all in all, its the most natural and readable syntactically.

answered Nov 05 '12 at 02:51

Aniket Inge

25,375
5
50
78

Since when could you use strings in a C or C++ `switch`? – paddy Nov 05 '12 at 02:53
I am talking about the switch statement, not switch with strings @paddy – Aniket Inge Nov 05 '12 at 02:53
when did I mention C/C++ had switch with strings? – Aniket Inge Nov 05 '12 at 02:55
My bad... It was implied by the fact that this is answering a question regarding the use of strings in a `switch`, and you said `switch` is the cleanest way. – paddy Nov 05 '12 at 02:58
that's where I backed off, I said I wouldn't argue if it were the "best" way, because the best way for me wouldn't be the best way for you @paddy – Aniket Inge Nov 05 '12 at 02:59

Using String with Switch statements?

2 Answers2