make switch use === comparison not == comparison In PHP

Question

Is there anyway to make it so that the following code still uses a switch and returns b not a? Thanks!

$var = 0; switch($var) {     case NULL : return 'a'; break;     default : return 'b'; break; } 

Using if statements, of course, you'd do it like this:

$var = 0; if($var === NULL) return 'a'; else return 'b'; 

But for more complex examples, this becomes verbose.

Answer 1

Sorry, you cannot use a === comparison in a switch statement, since according to the switch() documentation:

Note that switch/case does loose comparison.

This means you'll have to come up with a workaround. From the loose comparisons table, you could make use of the fact that NULL == "0" is false by type casting:

<?php $var = 0; switch((string)$var)  {     case "" : echo 'a'; break; // This tests for NULL or empty string        default : echo 'b'; break; // Everything else, including zero } // Output: 'b' ?> 

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Answer 2

Here is your original code in a "strict" switch statement:

switch(true) {     case $var === null:         return 'a';     default:         return 'b'; } 

This can also handle more complex switch statement like this:

switch(true) {     case $var === null:         return 'a';     case $var === 4:     case $var === 'foobar':         return 'b';     default:         return 'c'; }