Switch Case in c++ [duplicate]

Question

How can I compare an array of char in c++ using switch-case? Here is a part of my code:

char[256] buff;
switch(buff){
case "Name": printf("%s",buff);
             break;
case "Number": printf("Number "%s",buff);
               break;
defaul : break
}

I receive the error :" error: switch quantity not an integer".How can I resolve it?

Answer 1

If you really need a switch statement, you will need to convert your buff variable to an integer. To do so, you could use a hash function or a std::map.

The easy approach would be to make a std::map<std::string,int> containing the keys you want to use in the switch associated with unique int values. You would get something like:

std::map<string,int> switchmap;
...
switch(switchmap.find(std::string(buff))->second){
...
}

The std::map approach is very readable and shouldn't cause much confusion.