C Syntax Question

Question

Is it considered bad coding to put a break in the default part of a switch statement? A book I was reading said that it was optional but the teacher counted off for using it.

Answer 1

Best practice is to always use a break unless you mean for control to flow into another case, even at the end of the switch.

Answer 2

It depends if you have it at the start or the end of the switch statement. If there are other cases after the default then you probably do want a break there unless you really want to fall through.

switch (a)
{
    case 0:
    default:
        printf("Default\n");
        break;

    case 1:
        printf("1\n");
        break;

    case 2:
        printf("2\n");
        break;
}