What is the Python equivalent for a case/switch statement? [duplicate]

Question

Is there a Python equivalent for the case statement such as the examples available in VB.NET or C#?

Answer 1

Python 3.10 and above

In Python 3.10, they introduced the pattern matching.

Example from the Python documentation:

def http_error(status):     match status:         case 400:             return "Bad request"         case 404:             return "Not found"         case 418:             return "I'm a teapot"         case _:             return "Something's wrong with the internet" 

Before Python 3.10

While the official documentation are happy not to provide switch, I have seen a solution using dictionaries.

For example:

# define the function blocks def zero():     print "You typed zero.\n"  def sqr():     print "n is a perfect square\n"  def even():     print "n is an even number\n"  def prime():     print "n is a prime number\n"  # map the inputs to the function blocks options = {0 : zero,            1 : sqr,            4 : sqr,            9 : sqr,            2 : even,            3 : prime,            5 : prime,            7 : prime, } 

Then the equivalent switch block is invoked:

options[num]() 

This begins to fall apart if you heavily depend on fall through.

Answer 2

The direct replacement is if/elif/else.

However, in many cases there are better ways to do it in Python. See "Replacements for switch statement in Python?".