JavaScript Switch Statement

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="keywords" content="javascript switch statement, case, else, elseif, else if, javascript tutorial, code, function, source, learn, method, javascript dropdown menu, rollovers, form validation, pop up windows, scripting, jscript, reference"> <meta name="Description" content="Learn about the JavaScript Switch statement - test for multiple cases."> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.quackit.com/javascript/tutorial/javascript_switch_statement.cfm"> <title>JavaScript Switch Statement</title> <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/pix/favicon96.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/pix/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com"> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Lato:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="/common/css/master.45.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script async src="https://cdn.fuseplatform.net/publift/tags/2/3499/fuse.js"></script>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-Q3H025ZKLN"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-Q3H025ZKLN'); </script> </head> <body> <header class="site-header"> <div class="site-header-base"> <div class="site-logo"> <a title="Quackit Homepage" target="_top" href="/"><img src="/pix/quackit_logo_watermark.png" width="87" height="33" alt="Quackit Logo"></a> </div> <button id="site-nav-toggler" class="site-nav-toggler" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="site-nav"> <span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span> ☰ </button> </div> <nav id="site-nav" class="site-nav"> <div class="site-links"> <ul> <li><a href="/"><i class="fa fa-home"></i> <span class="sr-only">Home</span></a></li> <li><a href="/html/">HTML</a></li> <li><a href="/css/">CSS</a></li> <li><a href="/scripting/">Scripting</a></li> <li><a href="/database/">Database</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="site-search-top"> <form action="/search/" id="cse-search-box-bottom" class="site-search"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-6331358926293806:98x0fk-bbgi"> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:10"> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"> <input type="text" name="q" size="20" class="site-search-input"> <button type="submit" name="sa" class="site-search-button"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button> </div> </form> </div> </nav> </header> <div class="main"> <article class="content"> <h1 class="page-title">JavaScript Switch Statement</h1> <div class="ad ad-top">  <div data-fuse="23059883623"></div> </div> <ul class="pager"> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_if_statements.cfm"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-left" aria-hidden="true"></i> JavaScript If Statements</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_while_loop.cfm">JavaScript While Loop <i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li> </ul> <p class="lead">The Switch statement can be used in place of the If statement when you have many possible conditions.</p> <p>In the previous lesson about JavaScript If statements, we learned that we can use an If Else If statement to test for multiple conditions, then output a different result for each condition.</p> <p>For example, if the variable <code>myColor</code> was equal to <code>Blue</code>, we could output one message. If it is <code>Red</code> we could output another, etc</p> <p>Another way of doing this is to use the JavaScript Switch statement. An advantage of using the switch statement is that it uses less code, which is better if you have a lot of conditions that you need to check for.</p> <div class="ad">  <div data-fuse="23059883629"></div> </div> <h2>Example Switch statement:</h2> <p>Here, we will re-write the last example in the <a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_if_statements.cfm">previous lesson</a> into a switch statement.</p> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/lib/codemirror.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/htmlmixed/htmlmixed.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/css/css.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/javascript/javascript.js"></script> <script src="/common/js/codemirror/mode/xml/xml.js"></script> <div class="code-only"> <textarea id="example1" autocomplete="off" spellcheck="false"><script>
function analyzeColor(myColor) {
	switch (myColor)
	{
	case "Blue":
		alert("Just like the sky!");
		break
	case "Red":
		alert("Just like shiraz!");
		break
	default:
		alert("Suit yourself then...");
	}
}
</script>
<h3>Favorite Color</h3>
<label>
	<input type="radio" name="fav_color" value="Blue" onclick="analyzeColor(this.value);"> Blue 
</label>
<label>
	<input type="radio" name="fav_color" value="Red" onclick="analyzeColor(this.value);"> Red 
</label>
<label>
	<input type="radio" name="fav_color" value="Green" onclick="analyzeColor(this.value);"> Green 
</label>
<label>
	<input type="radio" name="fav_color" value="None" onclick="analyzeColor(this.value);"> None
</label></textarea> </div> <script> var exampleCode1 = CodeMirror.fromTextArea(document.getElementById("example1"), { mode: "htmlmixed", tabMode: "indent", styleActiveLine: false, lineNumbers: false, lineWrapping: true, theme: "q-dark" }); </script> <h3>Explanation of code</h3> <ul> <li>When the user clicks any of the radio buttons, the <code>onclick</code> event handler calls the <code>analyzeColor()</code> function. When we call that function, we pass in the value of the radio button (using <code>this.value</code>). The function then takes that value and performs a <code>switch</code> statement on it. </li> <li>The switch statement's first line is <code>switch (myColor)</code>. This means that it will perform its tests against the value of the <code>myColor</code> variable.</li> <li>This line is followed by a set of "cases" within curly braces. It's important to use "break" after each case - this prevents the code from running into the next case. In the case of the color being Blue, it displays an alert box with a message customized to that color. The same for Red. The <code>default</code> condition is only executed if the other two aren't true (i.e. the selected color is neither Blue nor Red).</li> </ul> <ul class="pager"> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_if_statements.cfm"><i class="fa fa-long-arrow-left" aria-hidden="true"></i> JavaScript If Statements</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_while_loop.cfm">JavaScript While Loop <i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li> </ul> </article> <div class="sidebar"> <nav> <ul> <li> <h3><a href="/javascript/tutorial/">JavaScript Tutorial</a></h3> <ul> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/introduction.cfm">Introduction</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/how_to_enable_javascript.cfm">How to Enable JavaScript</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_syntax.cfm">JavaScript Syntax</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_popup_boxes.cfm">JavaScript Popup Boxes</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_html.cfm">JavaScript and HTML</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/external_javascript_file.cfm">External JavaScript File</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_operators.cfm">JavaScript Operators</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_variables.cfm">JavaScript Variables</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_functions.cfm">JavaScript Functions</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_events.cfm">JavaScript Events</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_if_statements.cfm">JavaScript If Statements</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_switch_statement.cfm">JavaScript Switch Statements</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_while_loop.cfm">JavaScript While Loop</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_for_loop.cfm">JavaScript For Loop</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_try_catch.cfm">JavaScript Try Catch</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_escape_characters.cfm">JavaScript Escape Characters</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_void_0.cfm">JavaScript Void(0)</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_cookies.cfm">JavaScript Cookies</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_date_and_time.cfm">JavaScript Date and Time</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_arrays.cfm">JavaScript Arrays</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/two_dimensional_arrays.cfm">Two Dimensional Arrays</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/innerhtml_in_javascript.cfm">JavaScript innerHTML</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/unobtrusive_javascript.cfm">Unobtrusive JavaScript</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/tutorial/javascript_summary.cfm">JavaScript Summary</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><h3>JavaScript Reference</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/javascript/examples/" title="">JavaScript Examples</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/javascript_reserved_words.cfm" title="">JavaScript Reserved Words</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/javascript_event_handlers.cfm" title="Introduction to the 12 JavaScript event handlers">JavaScript Event Handlers</a></li> <li><a href="/javascript/javascript_date_and_time_functions.cfm" title="Full listing of all JavaScript methods for dealing with date and time.">JavaScript Date and Time Functions</a></li> </ul> <li><h3>jQuery</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/jquery/tutorial/" title="">jQuery Tutorial</a></li> <li><a href="/jquery/examples/" title="">jQuery Examples</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><h3>JSON</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/json/tutorial/" title="Data format for exchanging data between applications and different environments.">JSON Tutorial</a></li> </ul> <li> </ul> </nav> <div class="ad ad-left">  <div data-fuse="23059511712"></div> </div> </div> <div class="ads"> <div class="ad ad-right">  <div data-fuse="23059883626"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="searchbox-bottom"> <form action="/search/" id="cse-search-box-bottom" class="site-search"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-6331358926293806:npmuvy-i8kk"> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:10"> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"> <input type="text" name="q" size="30" class="site-search-input"> <button type="submit" name="sa" class="site-search-button"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button> </div> </form> <script src="//cse.google.com/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box-bottom&lang=en"></script> </div> <footer> <p class="about"><a href="/"><i class="fa fa-home"></i> Home</a> | <a href="/about.cfm" rel="nofollow">About</a> | <a href="/contact.cfm" rel="nofollow">Contact</a> | <a href="/terms_of_use.cfm" rel="nofollow">Terms of Use</a> | <a href="/privacy_policy.cfm" rel="nofollow">Privacy Policy</a></p> <p>© Copyright 2000 - 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JavaScript Switch Statement