Switch

Switch statements are a way to compare a value against multiple options. They are similar to if-else statements but are more concise and readable when the number of options is more than 2.

example.go

func getCreator(os string) string {
    var creator string
    switch os {
    case "linux":
        creator = "Linus Torvalds"
    case "windows":
        creator = "Bill Gates"
    case "mac":
        creator = "A Steve"
    default:
        creator = "Unknown"
    }
    return creator
}

In Go, the break statement is not required at the end of a case to stop it from falling through to the next case. The break is implicit.

If you do want a case to fall through to the next case, use the fallthrough keyword.

fallthrough_example.go

func getCreator(os string) string {
    var creator string
    switch os {
    case "linux":
        creator = "Linus Torvalds"
    case "windows":
        creator = "Bill Gates"

    // all three of these cases will set creator to "A Steve"
    case "macOS":
        fallthrough
    case "Mac OS X":
        fallthrough
    case "mac":
        creator = "A Steve"

    default:
        creator = "Unknown"
    }
    return creator
}

The default case runs if none of the other cases match.