How can I use wildcards in a switch statement?

Question

I have a switch statement that uses a string of 3 letters. For many cases (but not all) I only want to concern myself with the first 2 letters.

Example, I want every code that begins with "FF" to be handled the same:

switch(code)
{
   case "FF(?)":
      // Handle it
      break;
   default:
      break;
}

What can I do here? Can I utilize a wildcard? Do I have to consider every FF code?

For obvious reasons, I don't want to have code like this, that can grow really large:

case "FFA":
case "FFB":
case "FFD":
    // Handle it

Answer 1

Do your first 2 chars at the switch, not at case.

Use the default case to then fall back to three letter cases. It's not the cleanest, but it would work. Sometimes if statements are the way to go if switches don't cut it.

switch(code.Substring(0, 2))
{
    case "FF":
       ...
    default:
        switch(code)
        {
            case "ABC":
                ....
        }
}

Answer 2

Use if then else for these kinds of comparisons. Reserve your switch case statements for cases that are readily identifiable as discrete values.