New Java 7 Feature: String in Switch support

New Java 7 Feature: String in Switch support

One of the new features added in Java 7 is the capability to switch on a String.

With Java 6, or less

view plain copy to clipboard print ? String color = "red";    if (color.equals("red")) {    System.out.println("Color is Red");  } else if (color.equals("green")) {    System.out.println("Color is Green");  } else {    System.out.println("Color not found");  }  

With Java 7:

view plain copy to clipboard print ? String color = "red";    switch (color) {  case "red":    System.out.println("Color is Red");    break;  case "green":    System.out.println("Color is Green");    break;  default:    System.out.println("Color not found");  }  

Conclusion

The switch statement when used with a String uses the equals() method to compare the given expression to each value in the case statement and is therefore case-sensitive and will throw a NullPointerException if the expression is null. It is a small but useful feature which not only helps us write more readable code but the compiler will likely generate more efficient bytecode as compared to the if-then-else statement.

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