Use an array as a case statement in switch

Question

I am trying to do something like this, i.e., use an array in a switch statement. Is it possible in Java? If it isn't, please explain a possible solution.

boolean[] values = new boolean[4];  values[0] = true; values[1] = false; values[2] = false; values[3] = true;  switch (values) {     case [true, false, true, false]:         break;     case [false, false, true, false]:         break;     default:         break; } 

Answer 1

@sᴜʀᴇsʜ ᴀᴛᴛᴀ is right. But I wanted to add something. Since Java 7, switch statements support Strings, so you could do something with that. It is really dirty and I do not recommend, but this works:

boolean[] values = new boolean[4];  values[0] = true; values[1] = false; values[2] = false; values[3] = true;  switch (Arrays.toString(values)) {     case "[true, false, true, false]":         break;     case "[false, false, true, false]":         break;     default:         break; } 

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For those concerned about performance: you are right, this is not super fast. This will be compiled into something like this:

String temp = Arrays.toString(values) int hash = temp.hashCode(); switch (hash) {     case 0x23fe8da: // Assume this is the hashCode for that                     // original string, computed at compile-time         if (temp.equals("[true, false, true, false]"))         {          }         break;     case 0x281ddaa:         if (temp.equals("[false, false, true, false]"))         {          }         break;      default: break; } 

Answer 2

NO, simply you cannot.

SwitchStatement:     switch ( Expression ) SwitchBlock 

The type of the Expression must be char, byte, short, int, Character, Byte, Short, Integer, String, or an enum type (§8.9), or a compile-time error occurs.

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-14.html#jls-14.11